Taipei - Taiwan has donated 300,000 US dollars to Nicaragua to buy police uniforms to preserve its diplomatic ties with one of its few allies, the Central News Agency said Wednesday.

The donation to police chief Aminta Granera was made Tuesday by Taiwan Ambassador Wu Mu-chin in Managua. The money is to allow Nicaragua to provide uniforms for 6,000 police officers from now until 2011.

Taiwan's total donations to the Nicaraguan police force was now 3 million US dollars, the news agency quoted Granera as saying.

Nicaragua is one of 23 countries that recognize Taiwan, and Taiwan is fighting an uphill battle to keep diplomatic ties with those allies as China is wooing them to switch recognition from Taipei to Beijing.

China has accused Taiwan of using dollar diplomacy to preserve ties with small and poor nations, but Taiwan insisted its aid and donations are government-to-government cooperation projects that are open and transparent. (dpa)