Senior officials confirmed yesterday that an official invitation has been delivered to Taiwan to participate in the APEC leadership summit to be held in Lima, Peru, on Nov. 22 and Nov. 23.
APEC executive-director Juan Carlos Capunay delivered the invitation in person to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) before Ma left Taipei on Aug. 12 on his first state visit to attend the inaugurations of Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo and Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez.
“Capunay came to Taiwan in late July and left in early August,” said a foreign ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Capunay is the 16th executive-director of the APEC Secretariat for the 2008 APEC Year hosted by Peru.
The executive-director has served as a senior diplomat in the Peruvian foreign service since 1972 in a number of positions around the Asia-Pacific, with postings in China, Singapore, Japan and the UN.
The envoy from the host nation has traditionally visited Taiwan before the informal summit to confirm the delegate designated by the president.
Under a special arrangement made for Taiwan to participate in APEC, the president must designate a special envoy to the summit on his behalf.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has denied reports that former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰) has been chosen to be the special envoy to this year’s summit.
The ministry said it was still discussing the matter with the Presidential Office.
“It is too early to say who will represent Ma, as the summit is scheduled for late November,” the ministry official said, adding that the candidate will be named closer to the meeting.
Since the first APEC summit in 1993, Taiwan has been trying to send top officials to the meeting, but its efforts have been blocked by China
Nobel laureate Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) and well-known businessmen have been among those chosen to represent Taiwan at previous summits.
Many analysts feel that this year’s choice will be seen as an indicator of the status of cross-strait ties and a test of China’s goodwill regarding Ma’s new diplomatic approach.
Ma has proposed a “diplomatic truce” aimed at terminating the diplomatic tug-of-war with China over the nation’s allies.
Ma has also touted a “pragmatic diplomacy” strategy aimed at leveraging more international space for Taiwan.
Taiwan’s latest bid to ask the 63rd UN General Assembly to reconsider Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the world body’s specialized agencies next month will serve as the first indicator of the success of Ma’s new strategy.
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