Taiwan will not be represented by the president at the APEC economic leaders’ meeting in Beijing next month, but by the president’s special envoy in order to maintain “harmony” among members of the regional bloc and not because it is subject to any memorandum of understanding (MOU), an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
“We do not have any written MOU regarding our participation in the APEC economic leaders’ meeting whatsoever,” Department of International Organization Deputy Director-General Catherine Hsu (徐詠梅) told a press briefing.
In response to the Presidential Office’s announcement last week that former vice president Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) would be President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) special envoy at the summit, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Fan Liqing (范麗青) welcomed the decision.
Fan said the decision was made in compliance with stipulations set forth in a memorandum of understanding on Taiwan’s seat at APEC and established practices.
Hsu denied the existence of an MOU or any other written documents that the nation is subject to, but she said that some consensus on the issue of Taiwan was reached among APEC members before the nation joined the body in 1991, including that Taiwan would be called “Chinese Taipei.”
Without elaborating on the consensus, Hsu said the issue of whether the nation is represented by its president at APEC economic leaders’ meetings was not covered, because the body only started holding the summits in 1993.
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