The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday pledged to continue its efforts to garner international support for the nation’s opposition to Beijing’s unilateral activation of four aviation routes earlier this month, saying the issue has been covered in a Taiwan-friendly tone in more than 120 articles by foreign news outlets.
Ministry spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) yesterday in a press release said the ministry has gathered a total of 129 news articles since the activation of the northbound M503 route and extension routes W121, W122 and W123 on Jan. 4.
Among them, Lee said 28 are opinion pieces written by the nation’s overseas representative offices, which were published by reputable and mainstream international media, including the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post in the US, the Times in the UK, Japan’s Sankei Shimbun, Belgium’s European Business Review and the Hill Times in Canada.
After the nation’s representative offices explained the issue to international media and aviation experts, news outlets such as the Financial Times, The Economist and the BBC in the UK, France’s Le Figaro, Newsweek in the US and Canada’s National Post have published 81 reports and commentaries in support of Taiwan, Lee said.
There were another 20 articles that contained Taiwan-friendly elements in their coverage of the aviation routes, he said.
The ministry has also used other means to spread its message to the international community, he said.
“A total of 19 of the nation’s overseas representative offices have posted information on Facebook, seeking to harness the power of social media,” Lee said, adding that representative offices and influential local think tanks have held 19 forums on East Asia.
The ministry and the nation’s representative offices would continue their efforts to obtain the support and understanding of foreign governments, academics and international organizations, he said.
Following the launch of the four aviation routes, which violated a 2015 cross-strait agreement, the government turned to the international community for support while putting pressure on Beijing by stalling the approval of applications by two Chinese airlines for 176 additional cross-strait flights during next month’s Lunar New Year holiday.
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