Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) president Mark Kao (高龍榮) has called on the US government to protest China’s attempts to restrict Taiwan’s international space.
“Taiwan should be a full and equal member in the international family of nations,” Kao said.
In a statement issued on Friday, FAPA said that promises of a “rapprochement” across the Taiwan Strait were leading to diminished international space for Taiwan.
FAPA, a Washington-based Taiwanese-American advocacy organization, issued the statement to express concern about two recent events “showing that China is still attempting to deny Taiwan international space.”
The two events were the Beijing administration’s reaction to President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) trip to Rome to attend the inauguration of Pope Francis and the decision by the Indonesian government in Jakarta to deny a delegation from Taiwan access to an international defense conference after objections from China.
Beijing has urged the Vatican to dissolve ties with Taiwan and it pushed Indonesian authorities to withdraw an invitation to a Taiwanese delegation to the Jakarta International Defense Dialogue.
“China’s continued efforts to undermine Taiwan’s presence at such international events do clearly show that Ma’s diplomatic truce is not working,” Kao said.
“China’s moves are also in clear contradiction to stated US policy, which says that the US supports meaningful participation by Taiwan in international organizations,” he said. “We call on the US government to protest China’s attempts to restrict Taiwan’s international space.”
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