The Delphi Economic Forum yesterday corrected Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) title on its Web site from “former president of Taipei” to “former president of Taiwan” following calls from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ma’s office about the error.
The change was made within hours of the Ma’s profile appearing on the forum’s site, with the original wording prompting criticism from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said the mistaken title was inappropriate and a “serious error.”
Photo: screen grab from the Delphi Economic Forum Web site
Ma’s office yesterday said the invitation to address the forum had referred to Ma as “former president of the Republic of China,” and that it had asked the forum to correct the error when it was spotted.
Ma’s office said it thanked the ministry for moving quickly to request a correction from the forum.
“It is important for non-governmental groups to speak to the world even when President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) government has been unable,” Ma’s office said.
Ma is scheduled to talk at the forum about how to achieve peace with China in ways that differ from the DPP’s approach, his office said on Thursday last week.
Ma’s seeming acceptance of “Taiwan” over “Republic of China” in the corrected title contradicts his stance that both sides of the Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means, DPP Legislator Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) said.
Tsai’s “pragmatic diplomacy” has garnered support for Taiwan from a “global alliance of democratic countries,” while she has met two serving speakers of the US House of Representatives and secured an invitation to the APEC leaders’ summit, Su said.
“The choice put before Taiwan in 2024 will be to follow the worn-out cross-strait policy of Ma from Taipei or President Tsai of Taiwan,” she said. “The right choice cannot be more obvious.”
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