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MOFA settles on new guidelines for nation's name

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has worked out guidelines for the use of the nation's designation in the international community, with "Taiwan" as the most favored reference, officials said yesterday.

According to the officials, the guidelines are now pending the Cabinet's approval.

Once approved, the officials said, the most preferred reference in correspondence with diplomatic allies will be the Republic of China (Taiwan), followed by the Republic of China and Taiwan, in that order.

In engagements with countries that do not maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan, the top choice will be Taiwan, followed by Taiwan (Republic of China.)

Because of Beijing's diplomatic suppression and embargo against the nation, ministry officials acknowledged that the nation must be flexible in dealing with the designation issue.

"On many international occasions, we may be forced to use a designation that we don't like," said a ministry official. "For instance, we have to use the designation of `The Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu [TPKM]' in the World Trade Organization."

As far as international organizations are concerned, the official said, the previous five preferred references may be used in case they refuse to accept the minis-try's new preference list.

The five previous preferred choices were "ROC," "Taiwan," "Taiwan, ROC," "ROC (Taiwan)" and "TPKM" in that order.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Chen (陳唐山) said earlier this month that the government has no intention of changing the nation's official title but he added that in order to better distinguish Taiwan from China, the government will use either "the Republic of China" or "Taiwan" in international engagements.

"If possible, we'll avoid using any titles other than the ROC and Taiwan. We'll try our best to avoid using the `Chinese Taipei' designation. Generally speaking, we'll try to use `Taiwan' on as many international occasions as possible," Chen said.
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