At APEC's Fifth Ministerial Meeting of Telecommunications and Information Industries in Shanghai last month, China's Minister of Information Industry Wu Jichuan (吳基傳) said that APEC is a meeting attended by economies, not by governments, and rejected Taiwan's request to hold talks. Wu seemed to understand clearly that Taiwan's representative, Vice Minister of Trans-portation and Communications Tsai Duei (蔡堆), is on an equal footing with him, so he refused to conduct talks with Tsai to avoid admitting that Taiwan is an independent country.
China was up to its usual tricks at the forum. Before Tsai delivered his speech, Zhang Chunjiang (張春江), China's vice minister of information industry, introduced Tsai as a vice minister from "Taipei, China," instead of "Chinese Taipei." Tsai hesitated for a moment, but went ahead and gave his report.
During the press conference that followed, Wu sang the same old tunes as he invited Tsai to answer reporters' questions. Well prepared this time, Tsai repeatedly stressed that he was from "Chinese Taipei." It would have been better if he had done this the first time around, when he demonstrated that he wasn't prepared for China's constant putting down of Taiwan. But he might be excused because he was standing in for Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Ling-san (林陵三).
At APEC's ministerial-level meeting in Shanghai last October, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Tang Jiaxuan (唐家璇) rudely forbade Taiwan's then-economics minister, Lin Hsin-yi (林信義), from taking the floor at the joint press conference. There was more helplessness than indignation in Lin's response and he made no immediate objection although he made his point clear to reporters afterward.
Last month, Taiwan's repre-sentatives again faced Chinese efforts to diminish them, this time at the World Health Assembly meeting in Geneva. Even as he held a press conference, Minister of Health Lee Ming-liang (李明亮) had to face Chinese obstructionism. But no major announcements were made at that hard-won press conference, nor did Taiwan take the opportunity to launch a robust counterattack against the offensive by China's reporters.
All this highlights the fact that those representing Taiwan at international meetings still don't understand how to assert its sovereignty. They should stop speaking softly and acting humbly, and, instead, argue strongly, because their adversary is China, not lawmakers in the Legislative Yuan. The best way to tackle China's conduct is to draw its constant efforts to undermine Taiwan to the attention of the international media.
Why don't Taiwanese repre-sentatives seize the opportunity to show their democratic advantage and expose China's authoritarian rule on the international stage? Taiwanese officials clearly don't understand China's thuggish regime if they believe concessions can win Beijing's goodwill. Since China's journalists overseas are for all intents and purposes government officials, Taiwan's officials do not have to be polite to them.
China has recently forced Tai-wan to change its official name at Lions Clubs International, making it likely that Taiwan will be compelled to use "Taiwan" instead of the ROC more often in the international arena. Pro-unification activists should understand that China is the major driving force behind the name rectification movement, not the pro-independence camp.
The Legislative Yuan's Foreign and Overseas Chinese Affairs Committee has passed a proposal calling on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to issue new passports with "Taiwan Passport" on the cover, instead of adding "Issued in Taiwan" at the bottom as originally planned. The ministry should seriously consider this.
Paul Lin is a political commen-tator based in New York.
Translated By Jackie Lin
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