Minister of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) Timothy Yang (楊進添) yesterday continued to back the modus vivendi as the country’s best strategy for a bright diplomatic future despite the opinion of several pan-green legislators that such a non-confrontational approach had hurt the nation’s diplomacy.
Speaking to the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee, Yang, who became foreign minister last month after his predecessor stepped down over the mishandling of the aftermath of Typhoon Morakot, repeated an oft-heard speech regarding President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) foreign policy platform — modus vivendi, or flexible diplomacy, in which Taiwan and China cease battling to lure away each other’s allies.
Yang said since the implementation of the policy, Taiwan’s participation in international organizations has increased dramatically, including its accession to the World Health Assembly as an observer and its inclusion in the WTO’s Government Procurement Agreement. He said Taiwan’s relations with its allies and non-allies were stronger than ever.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator (DPP) Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯), however, said the approach had done the country little good because in order to appease China, Taiwan had agreed to use the name “Chinese Taipei” in international settings. That name, Tsai said, has caused much confusion because people may interpret it to mean that Taiwan is part of China.
The legislator said that the country’s top research facility, Academia Sinica, which has a high reputation, has been listed as being located in “Hsinchu, China.”
Furthermore, Tsai said South Africa, in an attempt to prevent an influx of illegal Chinese immigrants, had also set a high bar for Taiwanese nationals to obtain a visa to visit South Africa, which broke diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1997.
Tsai said all Taiwanese nationals must present a financial statement showing they have at least NT$80,000 in assets and the visa was only valid for 10 days, a considerably more stringent policy when compared with other countries, such as the US, where a normal non-immigrant visa is good for five years. The UK has also given Taiwan passport holders visa-waiver privileges of up to six months.
“This is because the South African government views us as part of China,” Tsai said.
Yang said he would look into the matter, but added that the visa regulations have been the same since the two countries severed ties.
DPP Legislator Chai Trong-rong said when describing visits to Taiwan made by foreign dignitaries, MOFA should say they are “visiting Taiwan” (訪台) and not the term “visiting the Republic of China” (訪華) that it currently uses.
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