The spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs took exception Friday to local media reports that President Ma Ying-jeou's gift of a smartphone to a Solomon Islands chieftain was 'absolutely useless.' MOFA spokesman Henry Chen said the HTC smartphone that President Ma gave to kindhearted chieftain Stanley Tabeva from the remote Isabel Province was one of Taiwan's sources of pride. 'The president gave the handset as a gift as he knew that high-tech products like the HTC smartphone were very popular among leaders of the South Pacific allies,' Chen noted. 'Stanley visits the Solomon Islands' capital Honiara very often and a mobile phone handset is very useful for him, ' he added. The handset not only allows the chief to surf the Internet, it also provides access to other multimedia entertainment, such as taking photos or listening to music, Chen said. Meanwhile, the spokesman disclosed that Ma directed Taiwan's embassy and technical mission in the country to donate compound fertilizer and urea to the Solomon Islands to help that South Pacific ally develop its agricuture. President Ma met Tabeva Thursday while checking out the operations of the country's agricultural technical mission in the Solomon Islands. Tabeva presented Ma with a donation for Typhoon Morakot victims collected from fellow islanders living in more remote parts of the country. Ma arrived in the Solomon Islands Wednesday on the fifth stop of his current diplomatic tour of Taiwan's six allies in the South Pacific. 