I also wrote him another letter earlier last month to inform him that during the Taiwan chapter's Multiple District Convention on May 26, the chapter had taken a vote among the members, who approved the use of the name "Taiwan" as the Taiwan chapter's membership name.
We also wrote an official constitutional complaint letter against LCI's board of directors to the constitutional by-laws committee, which in turn responded that the LCI would review our complaint during its four-day board of director's meeting, which is now taking place in Osaka, Japan, and announce its decision on Sunday.
TT: What do you think the decision will be? If the LCI insists the membership name will be called "China Taiwan," what will the Taiwan chapter do?
Hsu: Of course we're hoping for the best and that the LCI will decide to respect the voice of its Taiwan members and accept "Taiwan" as our membership name. But if worse comes to worse and the LCI insists on calling us "China Taiwan," the members of the Taiwan chapter will lead a protest during the LCI's annual world convention, which takes place between July 8 and July 12 in Osaka, Japan, following the board of director's meeting.
Including me, approximately 580 Taiwan chapter members will attend this world convention in Osaka next week. We have prepared protest banners as well as 2,000 small flags that are our national flag design.
We've also prepared about 8,000 hand-held fans, printed with our protest messages and our national flag design, to have them ready to distribute to all world convention attendees to inform them of our stand.
If the LCI still insists on calling us "China Taiwan," we will of course proceed with legal action against LCI for disrespecting and ignoring our voice.
TT: In the midst of all this controversy, what do you think will be the consequence for other international NGOs that have chapters in Taiwan?
Hsu: All I can say is that China has a phobia about Taiwan. For example, during our meeting last September, we tossed out the idea of "Taiwan" as our membership name. And you know what the Chinese representatives said? They told us that two years ago, they would have accepted "Taiwan" as our membership name.
But now that the DPP is in power, the Chinese representatives were concerned that the name "Taiwan" would cause alarm because it suggests an independent nation. China is becoming extremely sensitive now whenever the word "Taiwan" is mentioned.
Starting with the LCI, one of the world's biggest NGOs, China is now acting aggressively and has stepped up pressure on other NGOs that have Taiwan as a chapter member.
According to my understanding, several other international NGOs are receiving pressure from China, stating that if they want China to join their organization, they will have to first ask their Taiwan chapter to change its membership name from "Republic of China" or "Taiwan."
RSS