All it took was the press of the "reception" button at China's permanent mission to the WTO by Geneva Lake to gain access to the site on Route de Lausanne 228 -- even without a security check.
At least this was how reporters for the Liberty Times and Taipei Times managed to gain access to the site on May 16. They were the first among the Taiwanese press corps to visit Beijing's brand new WTO mission.
"An architect from Beijing joined a Swiss architect to complete the project," revealed a Chinese staffer from the mission, who stood idly in front of the new two-story building.
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
"The stone-laying foundation ceremony took place in February 1999 and construction was completed by August 2000," he said in front of the site, with a view of the snow-capped Mont Blanc, the highest and most massive peak in the Alps, in the background.
Despite the modern outfit of Beijing's mission to the WTO and Chinese officials' overwhelming boastfulness of their efficiency in securing the home for their WTO office, the loose security check at the site took some Geneva-based Taiwanese diplomats by surprise.
"How did you manage to enter the site of the Chinese mission? All we have been able to do so far is to observe from outside the wall," a Taiwanese diplomat said.
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
Political Constraints
It's not just walls of the Chinese mission that have distanced Taiwanese diplomats from their Chinese counterparts.
Sensitive cross-strait political issues have also cast a shadow on prospects for formal interactions between diplomats from Beijing and Taipei in Geneva -- even under the umbrella of the WTO.
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
For example, when China in January issued an invitation to Geneva-based foreign delegations with regard to the formal opening of its permanent mission to the WTO, former director of Taipei's representative office to the WTO, Lin Sheng-chung (
"We were quite undecided when the invitation came," recalled Lin, currently serving as a senior advisor at the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
"But considering that we and our Chinese counterparts did have quite a bit of informal interaction in Geneva, we decided to take part in the ceremony," said Lin, a veteran trade negotiator who was posted in Geneva for six years prior to his return to Taipei in March.
"At the ceremony [on Jan. 29], I just shook hands with the Chinese ambassador to the WTO Sun Zhenyu (
The unique political entanglements between Taipei and Beijing also complicated China's actions in late March when Beijing announced it would begin an anti-dumping investigation into cold-rolled steel imports from Russia, South Korea, Ukraine, Kazakstan and Taiwan.
Beijing failed to formally inform Taiwan in writing of the investigation, while the other targeted countries received notice.
"This violated existing WTO rules," Yen Ching-chang (
Article 6 of the WTO's Anti-Dumping Agreement states that, "To ensure the transparency of proceedings, authorities are required to disclose the information on which determinations are to be based to interested parties and provide them with adequate opportunity to comment."
The agreement also "establishes the rights of parties to participate in the investigation, including the right to meet with parties with adverse interests."
Although Yen has said repeatedly he expects to meet with his Chinese counterpart Sun in what he termed a "natural setting" under the multilateral umbrella of the WTO, talks between Yen and Sun in Geneva seem remote, officials conceded.
Aside from prospects for formal cross-strait interactions under the WTO, some experienced Taiwanese trade negotiators said what's important now is getting settled in Taipei's WTO mission as well as preparing for the new Doha round of trade talks.
Although some Geneva-based Taiwanese diplomats, such as Yen, were envious of the site of China's mission to the WTO, others said their new home near the international airport, slated to begin formal operations in the middle of this month, wasn't bad at all.
At least as far as security is concerned, the home to Taipei's mission to the WTO, located on the sixth floor in a so-called "smart" building and a neighbor to the European headquarters of the renowned Gillette Company, will have tighter security control.
The security check on the ground floor of the modern building will ensure that visitors can only reach the floor of their hosts, a Taiwanese diplomat explained.
The "smart" building, with part of the design work carried out by one of the instrumental architects that masterminded Chek Lap Kok Hong Kong International Airport, also has a lighting system that automatically switches off when the building is empty.
Despite his new office overlooking the snow-capped Mont Blanc as well as the Lake Geneva Foundation known around the world as the symbol of Geneva, Yen said he's indeed envious of South Korea's mission and its well-equipped interpretation facilities.
But the veteran trade negotiator Lin had a different view.
"What's more important is the function of the office, and whether we can work efficiently as a team," Lin said.
"We can even borrow each others' office if necessary, and such a practice is not unusual among various country missions to the WTO," added Lin.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at