The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday expressed its gratitude to a British foreign affairs official who on Tuesday reiterated the British government’s long-standing policy of referring to the nation as “Taiwan.”
Asked by British lawmakers Andrea Jenkyns and Robert Blackman about China pressuring British Airways and other international airlines to list Taiwan as a part of China on their Web sites, British Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific Mark Field said that the British government’s long-standing policy on Taiwan has not changed.
“The government refers to Taiwan as simply ‘Taiwan’ and, when included in a list of places, does so under an inclusive heading, such as ‘country/territory’ or ‘world locations,’” Field said in a written response to the lawmakers.
Photo: EPA
He also made clear the UK’s stance on Beijing’s move, saying that private companies and organizations should be able to decide the terminology that they use to list destinations.
“UK companies should not be placed under political pressure to make changes. Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials have registered our concern with the Chinese government on this point,” Field wrote.
Asked for comment, ministry spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) expressed gratitude toward Field for his remarks.
“The government refuses to accept China’s unreasonable and barbarous behavior, and the ministry will continue to lobby like-minded countries through our overseas representative offices to support Taiwan and join us in defending the universal values of democracy, freedom and the rule of law,” Lee told a regular news conference in Taipei.
He called on more like-minded nations to support Taiwan and reject China’s bullying to demonstrate the international community’s determination to defend universal values.
The British lawmakers’ question came after the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration in late April sent letters to international airlines demanding that they change references to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau on their Web sites and in other company materials within 30 days, or suffer repercussions for “serious discreditable conduct.”
Beijing originally set May 25 as the deadline for the changes, which it later extended to July 25, warning that failure to comply would have consequences.
The White House on May 5 denounced China’s demand as “Orwellian nonsense.”
A group of US senators in May sent a letter to two US airlines that received the demand to pledge their willingness to defend the companies’ integrity.
The ministry last month said that it is considering international litigation to safeguard the nation’s dignity and global status.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
Renewed border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia showed no signs of abating yesterday, leaving hundreds of thousands of displaced people in both countries living in strained conditions as more flooded into temporary shelters. Reporters on the Thai side of the border heard sounds of outgoing, indirect fire yesterday. About 400,000 people have been evacuated from affected areas in Thailand and about 700 schools closed while fighting was ongoing in four border provinces, said Thai Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri, a spokesman for the military. Cambodia evacuated more than 127,000 villagers and closed hundreds of schools, the Thai Ministry of Defense said. Thailand’s military announced that
CABINET APPROVAL: People seeking assisted reproduction must be assessed to determine whether they would be adequate parents, the planned changes say Proposed amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) advanced yesterday by the Executive Yuan would grant married lesbian couples and single women access to legal assisted reproductive services. The proposed revisions are “based on the fundamental principle of respecting women’s reproductive autonomy,” Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) quoted Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), who presided over a Cabinet meeting earlier yesterday, as saying at the briefing. The draft amendment would be submitted to the legislature for review. The Ministry of Health and Welfare, which proposed the amendments, said that experts on children’s rights, gender equality, law and medicine attended cross-disciplinary meetings, adding that
RSS