Taiwan’s economic success has earned it a...

Taiwan’s economic success has earned it a pile of foreign exchange, but the island is still not rich enough to bankroll a U.S. plan to slash Third World debt, according to the foreign minister.

“We are still a country that is working hard to develop,” Foreign Minister Lien Chan told parliament. “Our economic power has its limits.”

Lien said Taipei now had no plans to participate in the U.S. plan proposed by Treasury Secretary Nicholas F. Brady in March. The proposal called on Taiwan to join the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in contributing funds to finance a reduction in Third World debt.

Taiwan now has foreign-exchange reserves of $80 billion, the second highest in the world after Japan.

The U.S. offer was seductive for Nationalist Taipei, which is eager to rejoin both international economic groups after connections were severed in 1972 when Beijing was admitted.