A Greek forum was allegedly urged by outside forces to repeatedly downplay the designation of former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on its Web site, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
The Delphi Economic Forum, which began on Wednesday in the Greek city of Delphi and ends today, was pressured by “malicious” forces to change Ma’s title in its online materials several times over the past few days, the ministry said.
It did not identify the forces, but it was likely referring to China, which has in recent years increased efforts to isolate Taiwan from the international community against the backdrop of strained cross-strait relations.
Photo: screen grab from the Delphi Economic Forum Web site
Greece and China have developed close relations in recent years. Greece in 2018 was the first EU member state to join the Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing’s global infrastructure development project.
China also has large financial stakes in the Mediterranean country, including through its 67 percent ownership of the Port of Piraeus, one of the largest ports in Europe, through Chinese state-owned Cosco Shipping Holdings Ltd (中遠海運控股).
The Delphi Forum Web site currently refers to Ma as “the Former President of the Kuomintang party — Chinese Taipei,” referring to his leadership of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) between 2005 and 2014.
The Delphi forum on Friday last week changed Ma’s title from “former president of Taipei” to “former president of Taiwan” following calls from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ma’s office about the error.
Ma’s title was later revised to “Former Leader of Taipei” until it was changed again to its current wording.
Ma served as president of Taiwan from 2008 to 2016.
The ministry said it had sent its “strongest condemnation to the Delphi Economic Forum for arbitrarily changing the title of former Taiwan president Ma.”
However, the ministry said it would not respond further, as the forum’s organizer had been “deliberately meddled with” by “malicious forces.”
Ma’s office provided a copy of an invitation sent in January by Symeon Tsomokos, the forum’s founder and president, in which Ma was addressed as “President Ma Ying-jeou, Republic of China (2008-2016).”
The organizer apologized to Ma, who spoke at the forum, but said the Web site might not be updated in time due to a lack of staff resources during the forum, Ma’s office said in a statement.
Ma had participated in the forum’s opening ceremony and in closed-door dinners over the past two days, and his allocated seats were labeled “President Ma,” the statement said.
Hundreds of speakers attended the four-day forum, including Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou and Chinese Ambassador to Greece Xiao Junzheng (肖軍正).
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