After eight years of inactivity, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) Web page that records Chinese suppression of Taiwan’s diplomatic efforts was updated on Monday to include the most recent diplomatic rows.
Among the latest entries is an online log entitled “Mainland China’s interference with our nation’s international presence,” which is a record of the incident in Malaysia on Thursday last week, when the World Chinese Economic Summit organizers removed any reference to former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) presidential title from his designation for the event.
The ministry began collecting and publishing on its official Web site a log focusing on Beijing’s efforts to suppress Taiwan in international events when then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) took office in 2000.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
The Web page states that the “protection of national sovereignty, security and dignity” is the ministry’s highest priority, and contains a statement urging employees at overseas missions and embassies to remain vigilant against adverse actions initiated by Beijing, and to counter those actions whenever possible.
The updates ceased shortly after Ma assumed office in 2008, but the internal chronicling of Beijing’s suppression tactics continued, although they were not published online due to “orders from above,” an unnamed ministry official said.
With Beijing stepping up its efforts to marginalize Taiwan’s role in the international arena following the inauguration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in May, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) urged the government to resume updating the Web page.
The ministry at first declined on the grounds that such a public gesture might compromise its efforts to demonstrate the nation’s goodwill and mend ties with China, as well as betray sensitive information to other actors, including Beijing’s operatives, that could impede the ministry’s conduct of diplomacy.
When DPP Legislator Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應) backed Lo’s request for a reactivation of the log, the ministry conceded and began updating the information on Monday.
While the log for the Ma administration years from 2008 to May this year remains mostly blank, it has been updated to cover 12 incidents from April to this month.
The first item on the updated list is an incident in April, when Taiwanese representatives were barred from participating in a discussion on overcapacity and structural adjustments in the global steel industry held by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
It is followed by the WHO’s invitation to Taiwan in May that, for the first time, referred to the “one China” principle, and by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s decision to bar representatives of the Council of Agriculture from attending a meeting of its Committee on Fisheries in July in Italy.
Other incidents on the list include Taiwan’s exclusion from this year’s International Civil Aviation Organization’s meeting in Canada in September; the World Economic Forum’s changing of its appellation for Taiwan from “Taiwan, China” to “Chinese Taipei” in the same month; and the downgrading of the ranks of the nation’s Environmental Protection Administration officials who attended the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Conference of the Parties 22 in Morocco earlier this month.
On the sidelines of a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee yesterday morning, Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lee (李大維) said that the log only reflects the truth.
“[The log] simply reflects reality and the truth. [Beijing’s] suppression tactics did not start today. They have always been there,” Lee said.
Asked whether the ministry had consulted the Mainland Affairs Council before reactivating the Web page, Lee did not give a direct response, saying only that the ministry just did what lawmakers requested.
Lee also shrugged off speculation that it did not consult the council because the ministry thought it was unnecessary, given the current cross-strait stalemate.
“Cross-strait relations are not bad. [I think] it is okay,” Lee said.
Additional reporting by Stacy Hsu
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