A scholar from a top local university warned Saturday that the government should not entertain the idea of China setting up representative offices in the countries that are Taiwan's diplomatic allies because Beijing might overshadow Taipei, given China's economic and trade advantages. Yen Chen-shen, chairman of Institute of International Relations America-Europe Division, National Chengchi University (NCCU) , made the remarks at a forum held by NCCU to discuss President Ma Ying-jeou's pursuit of a 'diplomatic truce' with China. Ma is proposing that the two sides end their longstanding diplomatic tug-of-war over allies. He has also said that Taiwan is not opposed to its diplomatic allies developing economic or trade relations with Beijing. However, Yen warned that if China sets up representative offices in countries that have diplomatic relations with Taiwan and starts building substantial links with them, it could overshadow Taiwan and thus cause confusion, given the larger numbers of Chinese expatriates in those countries and China's economic clout. With regard to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' (MOFA's) recent decision to close five of its overseas representative offices, Yen said it was justified, but suggested that the MOFA also identify potential new locations to set up offices. Taking into consideration Taiwan's strategic plans and energy needs, the government should try to develop substantial relations with countries such as Iran and Kazakhstan, Egypt, Kenya and Ghana and set up offices there, he suggested. Foreign Minister Francisco H.L. Ou said June 6 that in an effort to put the country's diplomatic resources to better use, the government will close down five underutilized overseas offices in the coming months, including its representative offices in Venezuela, Bolivia, and Bangladesh, its consulate- general offices in Colon, Panama, and its liaison office in Johannesburg, South Africa. The reasons Ou listed for the closures included a perception of unfriendliness of some of the countries toward Taiwan and the existence of more than one office within close proximity of each other. However, Chiu Kun-shuan, director of NCCU's Graduate Institute of East Asian Studies, said that the closure of the Venezuela and Bangladesh offices might also be viewed as 'a favor done at little cost' to demonstrate Taiwan's goodwill toward China, as those two countries are of great strategic importance because of their energy resources. Taiwan currently has 121 offices in countries around the world, a number that Ou said was too high in relation to the size of Taiwan. Cheng Tuan-yao, director of NCCU's Institute of International Relations, said at the forum that Taiwan should carefully evaluate its decisions regarding representative offices so that any expansion would not be mistaken by Beijing as an offensive. 