More than 60 countries support Taiwan’s inclusion in Interpol, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Monday.
Support for the nation’s bid to join Interpol has been rising, the ministry said, although Taiwan was not invited to its general assembly from Tuesday to Friday last week in Vienna.
The ministry thanked administrative and legislative branches of governments, international parliamentary groups and officials from more than 60 countries that voiced support for Taiwan at the event.
Photo: AFP
More countries have come to recognize the need to include Taiwan in the global system to combat transnational crime, it said.
Taiwan’s diplomatic allies supported its bid by sending letters, issuing news releases and releasing videos, it said.
Seven among them — Eswatini, Palau, Paraguay, Belize, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Marshall Islands, and Saint Kitts and Nevis — spoke up for Taiwan during the assembly, bringing the bid to the attention of representatives from all participating countries, the ministry said.
Many national leaders — including from France, Australia, the UK, the US, Japan and Lithuania — have called for the inclusion of Taiwan in international organizations, including Interpol, in joint statements, it said.
US senators introduced the Taiwan Relations Reinforcement Act, while 32 US states, the Czech Republic, Poland, Brazil, Guatemala, and Saint Kitts and Nevis passed pro-Taiwan resolutions, it said.
Opinion pieces written by Ministry of Justice Criminal Investigation Bureau Director-General Chou Yu-wei (周幼偉) and Taiwan’s representative offices abroad, as well as interviews with Taiwanese diplomats and reports supporting Taiwan, were published in international media, including the Washington Times, National Review, Voice of America, the Diplomat, and in Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Denmark, Spain, Poland and Latvia, it said, adding that 162 reports have been published.
A promotional video made by the Criminal Investigation Bureau had been viewed 870,000 times on the ministry’s Facebook and X accounts and its YouTube channel, the ministry said.
An advertisement advocating the message that “Taiwan can help” was displayed at the Vienna International Airport and the event venue, it said.
The ministry called on Interpol to uphold the principles of professionalism and neutrality, and to include Taiwan in the global law enforcement network as soon as possible.
Combating transnational crime requires global cooperation, it said, adding that Taiwan should not be excluded because of political considerations.
Taiwan joined Interpol in 1961, but was forced to withdraw in 1984 after the organization switched recognition to Beijing.
Its participation has been blocked since then under a resolution passed at Interpol’s 53rd General Assembly the same year.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
RSS