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China tells Taiwan to take APEC summit sitting down

Taiwan's APEC delegation yesterday accused China of trying to sideline the nation by interfering with seating arrangements.

"China has tried to influence Taiwan's seating arrangements for the APEC meetings. In other words, China has tried to oppress Taiwan at APEC," said Tung Kuo-yu (董國猷), director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Department of International Organizations.

Tung's remarks confirmed speculation that China would work to limit Taiwan's visibility at the international event.

When asked whether Taiwan's delegation would protest against China's action, Tung said: "We will take appropriate action at an appropriate time."

Thailand, as host country, made several changes to seating arrangements at this year's APEC meetings.

Thai authorities said the changes were made to allow leaders to engage in more interactive and meaningful dialogue, as well as to improve efficiency.

In past years, seating arrangements at the leaders summit were determined by alphabetical order, with the exception that the current host sits beside next year's host.

Last year, Thailand was seated next to Mexico, the host of APEC 2002.

The seating arrangement allowed Taiwan's representative, Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲), to sit next to US President George W. Bush.

At this year's summit, however, seating is determined by the rank of the officials attending.

Selected by Chen again to represent him at this year's APEC leaders summit, Lee will be expected to sit at the bottom of the table.

If alphabetical order had been followed this year, Lee would be sitting next to Bush again because Thailand, as host country, would be at the chairman's seat.

Taiwan is also expected to lose out at this year's Ministerial Meeting press conference.

In the past, APEC ministers sat in a row to field questions by reporters. This year's press conference will include only Thai ministers.

These setbacks have led some to wonder whether China had put pressure on the host country to downgrade Taiwan's status.

"Of course, one is prompted to make such an interpretation," said David Lee (李南陽), deputy chief of the Government Information Office's international division.

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Chen urges aggressive approach at APEC
Lee arrives in Bangkok for meet

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