China seems to have relented in its ongoing diplomatic campaign to pressure Taiwan in the international arena, as fewer examples of such behavior were reported to the foreign ministry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday.
“In the first half of the year, there were relatively fewer examples of China’s suppression of Taiwan,” MOFA spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) said after the ministry updated its Web page listing China’s latest attempts to denigrate Taiwan in the international arena.
The ministry updates the site every three months to inform the public of incidents in which Beijing undermines Taiwan’s participation in international political, economic, trade, athletic or cultural events.
It remains unclear, however, if the trend is related to President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) election on March 22 and the “modus vivendi” diplomatic strategy he put in place after being inaugurated on May 20.
Ma has described his “modus vivendi” approach as a pragmatic diplomatic strategy to gain more international space for Taiwan. It aims to safeguard Taiwan’s rights while consolidating diplomatic relations with allies and restoring mutual trust with countries that influence Taiwan even in the absence of formal diplomatic ties.
Ma also proposed a “diplomatic truce” aimed at ending the longstanding diplomatic tug-of-war with China in which both countries try to lure each other’s allies to switch diplomatic allegiance by offering them large sums of money in foreign aid.
The MOFA Web site said that among the incidents in which China exerted pressure on Taiwan was when Beijing reasserted its claim of sovereignty over Taiwan and the Diaoyutai (釣魚台) islands after a Taiwanese recreational boat collided with a Japanese patrol vessel and sank near the islands on June 10.
After the incident, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang (秦剛) referred to the Taiwanese vessel as a “Taiwan, China” fishing boat and reiterated that the Diaoyutais are Chinese territory. Qin also demanded that the Japanese Coast Guard end any illegal encroachment into Chinese territorial waters.
In another attempt to suppress Taiwan’s international presence, China on May 20 blocked Taiwan’s bid to participate as an observer at the World Health Assembly — WHO’s top decision-making body.
China had also successfully prevented officials of Taiwan’s representative office in Germany from attending a seminar held by Germany’s health department by protesting and threatening to withdraw from the event.
ALIGNED THINKING: Taiwan and Japan have a mutual interest in trade, culture and engineering, and can work together for stability, Cho Jung-tai said Taiwan and Japan are two like-minded countries willing to work together to form a “safety barrier” in the Indo-Pacific region, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said at the opening ceremony of the 35th Taiwan-Japan Modern Engineering and Technology Symposium in Taipei. Taiwan and Japan are close geographically and closer emotionally, he added. Citing the overflowing of a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) in September, Cho said the submersible water level sensors given by Japan during the disaster helped Taiwan monitor the lake’s water levels more accurately. Japan also provided a lot of vaccines early in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Monday announced light shows and themed traffic lights to welcome fans of South Korean pop group Twice to the port city. The group is to play Kaohsiung on Saturday as part of its “This Is For” world tour. It would be the group’s first performance in Taiwan since its debut 10 years ago. The all-female group consists of five South Koreans, three Japanese and Tainan’s Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. To promote the group’s arrival, the city has been holding a series of events, including a pop-up
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday voiced dissatisfaction with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), whose latest meeting, concluded earlier the same day, appeared not to address the country’s application. In a statement, MOFA said the CPTPP commission had "once again failed to fairly process Taiwan’s application," attributing the inaction to the bloc’s "succumbing to political pressure," without elaborating. Taiwan submitted its CPTPP application under the name "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu" on Sept. 22, 2021 -- less than a week after China
TEMPORAL/SPIRITUAL: Beijing’s claim that the next Buddhist leader must come from China is a heavy-handed political maneuver that will fall flat-faced, experts said China’s requirement that the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation to be born in China and approved by Beijing has drawn criticism, with experts at a forum in Taipei yesterday saying that if Beijing were to put forth its own Dalai Lama, the person would not be recognized by the Tibetan Buddhist community. The experts made a remarks at the two-day forum hosted by the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama titled: “The Snow Land Forum: Finding Common Ground on Tibet.” China says it has the right to determine the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation, as it claims sovereignty over Tibet since ancient times,
RSS