The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is looking into why a Web page listing examples of China’s suppression of Taiwan has not been updated since the end of last year, but denied it had anything to do with the government’s desire for a “diplomatic truce” with China.
“We are now looking into the matter and will update the information as soon as possible,” ministry spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) told the Central News Agency.
The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) said the ministry should update the site every three months to inform the public of incidents in which Beijing thwarts Taiwan’s participation in various international political, economic, trade, sports or cultural events.
However, the information has not been updated since December, which the Liberty Times contended could be misinterpreted by the international community as indicating that no such incidents had occurred this year.
The report said that Beijing has not relaxed its suppression of Taiwan’s international space this year, citing its successful effort to block Taiwan’s bid to join the WHO on May 19 and recent attempts to downgrade Taiwan by changing the name of Taiwan’s Olympic team.
‘SELF-DISARMAMENT’
Although the former Democratic Progressive Party administration was in power until May 20, the paper described the failure to update the page as “self-disarmament” under the government’s modus vivendi diplomatic strategy that involves a “diplomatic truce” with China.
After taking office on May 20, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) declared he would seek a “diplomatic truce” with China in an attempt to end a long-standing diplomatic tug-of-war between the two countries.
MORE SPACE
The goal of the truce is to open more international space for Taiwan and halt the competition for the allegiance of mostly poor countries through offers of large sums of money, often referred to as “checkbook diplomacy.”
In response to the report, Chen said posting such information was a routine job similar to posting public travel advisories or information on overseas diplomatic missions.
“It has nothing to do with a diplomatic truce,” he said.
Chen said the foreign ministry did not know why the previous administration had failed to update the information from January to May.
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