The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday condemned Chinese efforts to suppress Taiwan’s international space, after a report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists detailed pressure from the Chinese embassy in Belgium to remove the Taiwanese flag flying in front of the nation’s representative office in 2022.
The flag was removed in January 2023 and the intent to have Taiwan as the guest of honor at last year’s Brussels International Book Fair was also canceled out of concern about China’s reaction, according to a report in Belgium’s French-language newspaper Le Soir.
The report was part of the “China Targets” series by the consortium, which investigates how Beijing “abuses international institutions to terrorize its critics and extend its repressive tactics worldwide.”
Photo: CNA
Brussels International Book Fair director Tanguy Roosen told the newspaper that the fair had wanted to focus on Asian nations last year, but the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned against the idea.
It is evident that the Belgian government is cautious when it comes to dealing with China, he said.
The Central News Agency (CNA) said that its reporters had witnessed the flag being taken down, but decided not to report on the incident to prevent affecting Taiwan-Belgium relations.
China’s attempts to define the Taiwan issue as one of “domestic politics” seek to isolate Taiwan from international support, MOFA said in a statement.
“We call on the international community to take tangible action against China’s attempts to disrupt the status quo,” it said.
The international community must clearly state that it stands against Beijing’s use of legal, psychological and media warfare against Taiwan to jointly uphold stability and prosperity in the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific region, it added.
Representative to Belgium Roy Lee (李淳) told CNA that China’s oppression of Taiwan has been pervasive and relentless, and Taiwan’s diplomatic corps would continue to advocate for the nation’s rights to be recognized and heard by the international community.
Sara van Hoeymissen, a world politics lecturer at the Royal Military Academy of Belgium, said that the representative office is walking a tightrope in terms of what can or cannot be done diplomatically.
The Chinese embassy is constantly contacting the Belgian government regarding the formal appellation used for Taiwan on official documents and demands that any form of address given to Taiwan should refrain from being associated with independence, Van Hoeymissen said.
If the Chinese embassy chooses to, it can devote a great deal of resources to inundating the Taiwan representative office with letters and complaints, she said.
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