President Chen Shui-bian (
"President Chen Shui-bian will be making a trip abroad at the end of August. Many have already started to think about the country name that the president will use while abroad," he said.
"From the newspapers, I gather that he will continue to use ROC (Taiwan)," Mark Chen said yesterday while visiting the Human Rights Memorial on Green Island.
"The meaning of doing this is so that they [diplomatic allies] know for sure that the president is from Taiwan and has nothing to do with China," Mark Chen said.
He also said the ministry would try to ensure that the media and relevant officials of the countries the president visits will understand the distinction between Taiwan and China.
"Given recent experiences, [the ministry] will emphasize to the representatives and media agencies of Panama and Belize that it is Taiwan that they have diplomatic ties with," Mark Chen said.
Debate over the country's name was renewed last week when the media reported on the nation's premier using of "Taiwan, ROC" in his speeches while visiting Honduras.
Mark Chen also suggested a new permutation of Taiwan and ROC on Friday, saying that the nation could be referred to as Taiwan/ROC as the two terms could be used interchangeably.
Asked whether ROC (Taiwan) could become customary practice if the president decides to use the name during his trip abroad, Mark Chen responded that if the name dissolves confusion, then it was possible that it would be used in the future.
Mark Chen cautioned that an official change of the nation's name must be done according to the Constitution.
"I say this, you say that, but we are each just giving our personal opinion," he said.
While government officials have maintained that the use of ROC (Taiwan) is an attempt to avoid being confused with China, El Salvador's ambassador, Francisco Ricardo Santana Berros, yesterday said that Salvadorans are rarely confused because of the nation's diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
"Because El Salvador and Taiwan have long been diplomatic allies, the people of El Salvador are very clear about the nation's name; there is no misunderstanding," Santana said yesterday.
Paraguay's ambassador, Ramon Diaz Pereira, said that the choice should be made by the citizens of Taiwan.
"I think it depends on the people of Taiwan. The people of Taiwan have to choose" the nation's name, Diaz said.
However, he later referred to Taiwan as the "Republic of Taiwan," highlighting once again the confusion surrounding the several names used to refer to Taiwan.
"For us, we know [it] as Taiwan, this is for us Taiwan, the Republic of Taiwan," Diaz said yesterday.
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