Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (簡又新) yesterday vowed to remove every obstacle to Taiwan's participation in the APEC summit in Mexico this year, despite Taipei's absence from the gathering last October.
"We intend to remove China's obstruction to Taiwan's attendance at the meeting," Chien told reporters.
Chien made the statement yesterday afternoon after hosting the inauguration of three newly-appointed representatives and ambassadors, including Representative to Mexico Wu Jeng-hsiu (吳仁修).
"This situation requires our attention at the beginning of the year," Chien said.
"We hope that Taiwan takes its place at the summit as has been the usual practice -- with the exception of last year in Shanghai -- and we will try to accomplish that objective by working together with the Mexican government."
Taiwan found itself excluded from the Shanghai summit after China refused to extend an invitation to former vice president Li Yuan-tzu (李元簇), President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) chosen envoy.
The cross-strait tug-of-war over Taipei's unresolved participation in the summit escalated until the eve of the two-day event, with each side attacking the other for breaking their so-called APEC-established protocols over Taipei's representation.
In a flare-up at a news conference during the APEC ministerial meeting on Oct. 18, Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan (唐家璇) cut short a speech being delivered by the Taiwan's then-minister of economic affairs, Lin Hsin-i (林信義).
Tang's attitude at the conference brought the dispute over Taipei's participation in the summit to an end, with Taiwan conceding the next day that it would not attend.
Some foreign ministry officials had expressed their concern that China may pressure Mexico, the host country for this year's APEC meetings, to regard Taiwan's absence at last year's summit as an established practice, thus forcing Taiwan to be absent from the Mexican summit as well.
The APEC informal leaders' meeting is scheduled to take place at Los Cabos, Mexico, from Oct. 23 to 24.
When asked whether he has begun discussions with his counterpart from Mexico on Taipei's participation, Shen Ssu-tsun (沈斯淳), director-general of the ministry's department of international organizations, said he would try his best whenever it's proper to bring up the issue.
Shen, Taiwan's representative at the APEC senior officials meeting, briefed reporters yesterday morning on a series of APEC meetings to be held throughout the year.
APEC's first senior officials meeting this year is scheduled to take place later this month in Mexico City, Shen said.
The focus of the meeting, he said, is to be discussions on measures to realize various proposals under APEC's purview, such as assistance to small-and-medium sized enterprises, as well as APEC's role as a unit on the launch of a new round of WTO trade talks.
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