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5. On 6 April, the Cabinet announced its decision to send a delegation, headed by Cabinet Minister Shirley Kuo, to attend the Asian Development Bank meeting in Peking in May. It was to be the first visit by Taiwan officials to the mainland since 1949. The Taiwan authorities claimed that it did not mean any change in the official policy of no contact, but in private were probably quite pleased with how it turned out as a successful example of their "flexible diplomacy". Premier Yu Kuo-hua stated that Taiwan's future policy would be to attend every meeting, be it private or official, sponsored by international organisations on the mainland. But they would not necessarily attend those organised by China. about the same time (7 April) the Olympic Committees of China and Taiwan agreed in Hong Kong on the name of "Chinese Taipei" for Taiwan sports delegations visiting the mainland. On 9 April the Foreign Minister, Lien Chan, said that in future "Chinese Taipei" would be as far as Taiwan was prepared to go in compromising over the name in international organisations (the delegation to the ADB use the name "Taipei, China" to which Taiwan is vehemently opposed).
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6.
Taiwan's "flexible diplomacy" came pretty well out of the announcement on 18 April that China and Bahrain would establish full diplomatic relations. The communique did not contain the usual clause stating that Taiwan was a province of China, and the Taiwan authorities will maintain their trade office in Bahrain. The Taiwan authorities will also be pleased with the numbers of countries now seeking to open trade offices. On 17 April, it was reported that Jamaica would be opening an office in Taipei, affiliated to the Jamaican Economic Development Bureau's Far East Office in Hong Kong, which would handle trade and accept visas (to be issued in Hong Kong). The Philippines announced their intention to open an office in July, and the Taiwan press reported that Italy was coming under increasing parliamentary pressure to do so.
7. Taiwan played host to a number of senior foreign visitors including the President of Nauru (30 March to 4 April), the President of Honduras (12 to 16 April) and Goh Chok Tong, the First Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister of Singapore, (17 to 22 April). The latter came in part to inspect the Singaporean troops undergoing training in Taiwan (operation "starlight"). press reports, 140,000 Singaporean troops have trained in Taiwan
According to since an agreement on Taiwan providing military training was signed in 1975. On 11 April President Lee Teng-hui received the Polish Cardinal Macharski.
8.
On 27 April the Anglo-Taiwan Education Centre was opened in Taipei by Sir Philip Goodhart, Chairman of the Anglo-Taiwan Parliamentary Committee, in the presence of Taiwan's Minister of Education and Han Li-wu, Chairman of Sino-British Cultural and Economic Association. Earlier in the month, Lien Chan, the Foreign Minister, had described the opening of office and the upgrading of the French Institute in Taipei as signifigant gains in Taiwan's efforts to strengthen relations with Britian and France.
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