The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday lodged a protest with MWC Barcelona for listing Taiwan as “Taiwan, Province of China” on its Web site this year.
Organized by the GSM Association (GSMA), the congress is to take place from tomorrow to Thursday in Barcelona, Spain. It is the largest mobile device event in the world.
Taiwan has always attended previous events as “Taiwan,” the ministry said.
Photo courtesy of the National Communications Commission
It instructed the Taipei Representative Office in the UK and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Spain to lodge complaints with the GSMA and Fira Barcelona, the city’s trade fair institution, and demand that the event change the designation, the ministry said.
The GSMA responded that the listing was in line with the names used by the UN and the International Telecommunication Union, and refused to change it, the ministry said.
As a result of the name change, the National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that NCC Chairperson Chang Ting-yi (詹婷怡) and others in the delegation would not attend.
The NCC usually headed the delegation to the event, which comprises government officials and domestic telecommunications representatives, NCC spokesperson Weng Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said.
Taiwan is an important link in the global information technology supply chain and changing Taiwan’s name opposes the GSMA’s spirit as a non-political organization, the ministry said.
Such a move would severely damage global IT development and interaction, and affect commercial practices, it said.
The ministry pledged to work with the NCC, other government organizations, allied nations and other friendly parties to persuade the GSMA to change the listing.
Meanwhile, groups and lawmakers from other countries have protested changes to Taiwan’s name.
On Feb. 11, cochairs of the British-Taiwanese All-Party Parliamentary Group Nigel Evans and Dennis Rogan, as well as 45 British legislators, wrote a joint letter urging the UK-based International English Language Testing System (IELTS) to change the designation of Taiwan on its Web site from “Taiwan, China” to “Taiwan.”
British Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Mark Field has also said that IELTS’ designation of Taiwan contravened the UK’s longstanding policy regarding Taiwan.
Additional reporting by Liu Li-jen
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