MOFA says China trying to block Hanoi invitation

China has tried to pressure the Vietnamese government into excluding Taiwan from this year's informal APEC leadership summit next month in Hanoi, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) official said yesterday.

Department of International Organizations Director-General John Chen (陳忠) said that it has been a convention for the host country to dispatch special envoys to other APEC members to deliver invitations for the leaders' summit.

"The Chinese government has pressured the new Vietnamese government, which is still trying learn the operations of international affairs, not to send a special envoy to Taiwan to invite it to attend the APEC meeting. This is despicable," Chen said.

This year's leadership summit is scheduled for Nov. 18 and Nov. 19. A senior officials meeting will be held on the 12th and 13th and a ministerial meeting will be held on Nov. 15 and Nov. 16.

Last year, Beijing blocked Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) from heading Taiwan's delegation to the APEC meeting in Busan, South Korea.

Eventually President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) designated former vice premier Lin Hsin-yi (林信義) to lead the delegation.

John Chen said the ministry has been in contact with the Vietnamese government, which had said that it would deal with the issues of delegations and invitations "cautiously."

"Although the arrival of Vietnam's special envoy has been delayed, the Vietnamese government will soon confirm who will come to Taiwan with the invitation and when, and the envoy will discuss Taiwan's representative candidate for the APEC meetings," the foreign ministry official said.

He said Taiwan would attend the Hanoi summit.

John Chen said Vietnam might ask an academic or civic leader to be its special envoy to deliver the invitation.

He said government departments have already begun preparations for next month's APEC meetings and things are progressing smoothly.