An unprecedented international seminar on the thorny issue of Taiwan's participation in the UN will be held in Senegal next week.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday that China would find little room to maneuver against Taiwan as the seminar would take place on the soil of a Taiwanese ally.
A foreign ministry press release yesterday announced that Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Wu Tzu-dan (
The seminar, organized by the Dakar regional center of the Center for Diplomatic and Strategic Studies (CEDS) -- a Paris-based think tank -- is to discuss issues related to participation in the UN by African countries and Taiwan, according to the press release.
To show his country's support for Taiwan, Senegal President Abdoulaye Wade is scheduled to host the opening ceremony of the two-day international conference, sources said.
The foreign ministry has offered limited funds to support the seminar, originally proposed by the CEDS and jointly arranged by Taiwan's embassy in Senegal, said Tao Wen-lung (
China's intervention at the seminar, if any, would find little room for maneuvering -- at least in public, as the site of the conference was one of Taiwan's African allies, Tao said.
Among Taiwan's 28 allies, eight are African countries. Those eight are Senegal, Swaziland, Malawi, San Tome and Principe, Gambia, Burkina Faso, Liberia and Chad, which have been key supporters for Taiwan's bid to re-enter the UN since 1993.
Also attending the seminar are four Taiwanese lawmakers, five Taiwanese scholars, and their counterparts from the African continent. Final confirmation of the total number of seminar participants has yet to be confirmed, the Department of African Affairs official said.
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