Taiwan will never accept a name that downgrades its status in the World Organization for Animal Health (Office International des Epizooties or OIE ), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
Lin Yung-lo (林永樂), director of the ministry's Department of International Organizations, made the remarks after the OIE adopted a draft resolution submitted by China on Monday at the OIE International Committee's 75th general session in Paris to downgrade Taiwan's status to a "non-sovereign regional member."
China's proposal asks that Taiwan's title within the OIE be changed from "Taipei, China" to "Taiwan, China."
Noting that there is no precedent in the OIE to expel a member and that the organization has members from non-sovereign regions, the Chinese proposal asks the OIE to resolve to "restore the exercise of the legal rights of the People's Republic of China [PRC] to [the] OIE in its capacity of an OIE member as a sovereign state and to invite Taiwan, China to participate in the activities of OIE as a non-sovereign member that can only be referred to as `Taiwan, China' in all the activities, documents, publication[s], Web sites, etc of OIE."
The proposal will be voted on on Friday.
The situation is not favorable to Taiwan as only 15 of 168 OIE members are allies, Lin said at a weekly ministry press conference, adding that the US, Japan and the EU support Taiwan's stance.
Lin urged all OIE members to obey a resolution reached in 2003, when the OIE's International Committee proposed that Taiwan adopt the name as "the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu" -- the name it used to join the WTO.
Lin said Taiwan had joined the OIE in 1954 as the "Republic of China (Taiwan)," but it was forced to change its membership name to "Taipei, China" after China was admitted in 1992.
But China has refused to pay its membership fees and has not attended OIE meetings and activities in an attempt to push the OIE to change Taiwan's designation, Lin said. The resolution that was proposed in 2003 was never implemented because China rejected it.
"The OIE is a professional organization and politics is irrelevant to it," Lin said. "We urge the OIE not to succumb to China's pressure and to go back to the basis and spirit of the resolution passed by all the members of the OIE."
When asked whether Taiwan would withdraw from the organization if the members voted to change Taiwan's title as per China's request, Lin said Taiwan's delegation was trying to seek support from other members.
Additional reporting by CNA
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