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Taiwan loses out again in APEC

Falun Gong members gather in Los Cabos, Mexico during the APEC summit yesterday to protest against China's suppression of the Falun Gong movement. PHOTO: LIAO CHEN-HUI, TAIPEI TIMES

Taiwan was excluded from a meeting Wednesday at the ongoing APEC summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, when foreign ministers of the other member economies gathered to discuss the fight on terrorism.

It marked the third time that Taiwan was left out of the foreign ministers' working meeting under the APEC umbrella, which triggered concern that Taiwan's absence would become an established practice in the future.

Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Yi-fu (林義夫) and Minister of Finance Lee Yung-san (李庸三) have sent a letter of protest to the host country to express Taiwan's dissatisfaction.

Taiwan's foreign minister and vice foreign minister cannot attend APEC meeting according to an agreement reached by China, Taiwan and intermediary South Korea, during negotiations leading up to the entry of Taipei, Beijing and Hong Kong into APEC in 1991.

The rule was stipulated in two memorandums of understanding -- one between Taipei and Seoul and one between Beijing and Seoul -- which were also endorsed by the 15 members of the regional grouping.

Shen Ssu-tsun (沈斯淳), the APEC senior official in Taiwan's foreign ministry, said he had expressed regrets and protests to the organizers, and "would not accept this becoming an accepted practice."

"We have made our intention very clearly that we should be invited to the meeting, and illustrated how Taiwan has been mistreated to member economies who remain on friendly terms. [But for these members,] there is a gap between understanding the situation and offering substantial support [to Taiwan,]" the official said.

Shen stressed he had made sustained efforts to communicate with Mexico, the host country, until the last moment, yet his efforts could not change the decision.

Given that Taiwan's foreign minister is not allowed to participate in the meeting, the foreign ministry proposed to send one of the two attending ministers, either Lin or Lee, to attend in his stead.

The suggestion was, however, turned down.

Sources in the delegation said that in addition to anti-terrorism, another focus of the discussion centered on the pros and cons of a possible US war on Iraq.

During the APEC meetings in New Zealand in 1999, talks among the group's foreign ministers on the then shaky situation in East Timor excluded Taiwan's representatives.

In last year's summit meeting in Shanghai, Taiwan was again barred from another foreign minister's meeting to discuss anti-terrorism measures, immediately following the terrorist attack on New York's World Trade Center.

The APEC forum was established in 1989 as a consultative body with the aim of weighing the interests of Asia-Pacific countries against those of Europe in trade negotiations.

Stressing its nature as an economic forum, the grouping has tried to avoid political issues taking precedence over the the economic agenda.

China, however, has been determined to block Taiwan from using APEC as a stage to highlight its mistreatment by the international community as a result of a readiness to buckle to China's pressure.

Political volatility, has however, put politics in the forefront of the group's concerns.

The anti-terrorism issue has dominated the agenda for the past two years since the Sept. 11 terrorist attack last year.

During the leaders summit starting today, US President George W. Bush is expected to pressure Russia, China and other Asian nations to tighten their anti-terrorism policies and to support the US policy on Iraq.

Also see story:
APEC hears anti-terror message
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