Taipei - Taiwan is seeking the return of almost 30 million dollars intended to launch diplomatic ties with Papua New Guinea (PNG) which was embezzled by two Taiwanese men, the foreign ministry confirmed Thursday.

Phoebe Yeh, the ministry's acting spokeswoman, confirmed a Singapore newspaper report that Taipei is seeking the return of the money through a Singapore court.

Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao newspaper reported Thursday that Singapore High Court has granted the Taiwan Foreign Ministry's request for an injunction to freeze the two men's bank accounts in a Singapore bank and their assets so that the money can be returned to the Taiwan government.

According to Yeh, Taiwan in 2006 sought to open diplomatic ties with PNG and used two Taiwan men - Ching Chi-ju and Wu Shih-tsai - as middlemen to hold secret talks with PNG, which has diplomatic ties with China.

Under the deal, Taiwan's Foreign Ministry would send 30 million US dollars intended as aid to PNG to a joint account opened by Ching and Wu in the OCBC bank in Singapore.

Ching and Wu were to withdraw the cash only after talks on establishing diplomatic ties with PNG had succeeded, and had to return the fund to Taipei should the talks fail.

On September 14, 2006, Taiwan's Foreign Ministry remitted 29.8 million US dollars into the bank account - 200,000 US dollars had been deducted from the sum as spending money for Ching and Wu.

But at the end of 2006, Taipei decided to end the talks, which apparently were going nowhere, and asked Ching and Wu to return the money, but the pair refused.

Ching, who holds a US passport, has vanished while Wu is being detained by Taiwan judicial authorities, Lianhe Zaobao said.

Taiwan, currently recognized by 23 countries, has been fighting a fierce diplomatic war with China to win over each other's allies. China sees Taiwan as its breakaway territory. (dpa)