Regardless of the name given to Taiwan's mission to the WTO in the trade body's new directory, its rights and obligations will not be affected, a WTO spokesman said yesterday.
Beijing is pressuring the WTO to downgrade the name of Taiwan's mission in the directory, which contains contact details, such as phone numbers, of WTO member states' missions in Geneva.
Noting that the directory has not been updated for three years, WTO chief spokesman Keith Rockwell said in a phone interview that differences between Beijing and Taipei that are delaying an update of the phonebook are "a political problem."
The problem, said Rockwell, is "beyond the scope of the WTO," but the WTO is trying to find ways forward and compromise regarding how to update the phonebook.
He stressed that Taipei's rights in the WTO "will not be affected," regardless of how the new phonebook will be presented.
He also dismissed speculation that China has threatened to block WTO Secretary-General Supachai Panitchpakdi's possible appointment to lead a significant UN agency if he fails to yield to its demand to change the name of Taiwan's mission to the WTO in the directory.
Supachai's term of office as WTO director-general will expire on Aug. 31.
China wants to reduce the status of Taiwan's mission in the directory to that of Hong Kong and Macau, and remove all words containing sovereignty connotations from letters exchanged between the WTO and the mission, according to Taiwanese officials familiar with WTO operations.
China, which has vigorously sought to lower the status of Taiwan's mission, pressured Supachai to alter the name of the mission and its diplomats' titles by threatening to affect the official's chance to lead the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNITAD), sources said.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan last month proposed Supachai as a candidate to head UNITAD. China, however, suggested that his possible appointment be suspended as Annan had not informed 77 developing countries of his selection of Supachai in advance, according to sources.
By threatening to block Supachai's possible assignment to lead UNITAD, sources said, China intended to compel him to yield to its demand to change the name of Taiwan's mission and its diplomats' titles in the new directory.
Rockwell, however, dismissed this as rumors.
"I have no reason to believe that is true," he said.
The official name of the Taiwan mission to the WTO in Geneva is "Permanent Mission of the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu to the World Trade Organization."
China wants the WTO Secretariat to replace "permanent mission" with "office of permanent representative" in the directory, according to a Taiwanese official, who requested anonymity.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Chen (
The Swiss government has conferred the titles of "ambassador" and "minister," respectively, on Yen Ching-chang (
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
RSS