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MOFA delays ‘Taiwan’ name changes

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip William Lai, left, and DPP Legislator Chai Trong-rong hold a press conference yesterday condemning the administration for recommending use of the name “Republic of China” instead of “Taiwan.” PHOTO: CNA

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday performed an about turn on its recommendation on Wednesday that embassies and representative offices use the title “Republic of China (ROC)” instead of “Taiwan” on invitations to foreign dignitaries.

The recommendation also included using the term “Mainland China” instead of “The People’s Republic of China (PRC)” when referring to China.

The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported yesterday that the ministry had sent a notice to all embassies and representative offices two weeks ago informing them of its decision, saying the name “ROC” could best safeguard the nation’s sovereignty because it referred to the country by its official designation.

The document said that the decision was in keeping with President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) stance on cross-strait relations based on the so-called “1992 consensus.” To maintain the “status quo,” all official documents henceforth had to use “Mainland China” or “Mainland” when referring to China and use “visit the Republic of China” instead of “visit Taiwan” when referring to foreigners interested in visiting the nation, it said.

Many envoys were reportedly surprised when informed of the ministry’s decision. Some voiced surprise at why they could not continue using the name “Taiwan” and had to replace it with “ROC” even while reverting to the use of “Mainland China” or “Mainland.”

Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) said yesterday morning that the recommendation to use the name “ROC” was not meant to downplay Taiwan, but to promote the Republic of China.

He added that using the term “Mainland China” not only suited the new administration’s stance, but also got around the issue of “two separate countries.”

The minister, however, changed his tune less than three hours later, saying the ministry would postpone the recommendation until a consensus on the issue had been reached.

“We saw from the news that there were many opposing voices. I think it would be better to hold off for now,” Ou said in an emergency press conference yesterday afternoon.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) condemned the attempted change yesterday, saying it was tantamount to eradicating Taiwanese consciousness.

He also said that most people now refer to relations between Taiwan and the US as “Taiwan-US” relations and not “China-US” relations.

DPP Legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) said yesterday that he would question Ou on the English translation.

“It took us a lot of time to establish the image of ‘Taiwan’ in international society so people would not be confused between the ‘Republic of China’ and the ‘People’s Republic of China.’ Ou is trying to take us back to where we were years ago. This is absurd,” Chai said.

Ministry spokeswoman Phoebe Yeh (葉非比) later told the Taipei Times that the recommendation on using the term “Mainland China” would also be held back until a public consensus was reached.

She said that the ministry’s recommendation was only meant to advise the offices that it would be more appropriate to use those terms, but that the ministry would also allow a certain degree of flexibility.

Additional reporting by Fan Cheng-hsiang, Li Hsin-fang, Peng Hsien-chun and Jimmy Chuang
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