The nation would continue to abide by its cross-strait policy of maintaining the “status quo” even as Beijing exerts greater pressure by stealing away Taiwan’s allies and barring the nation from participating in this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva, Switzerland, an anonymous source said yesterday.
Over the first three months of the year, China constricted Taiwan’s international space in 10 incidents, adding to 49 such incidents last year, 18 in 2016 and 13 in 2015, Ministry of Foreign Affairs data showed.
China’s tactics include forcing Taiwanese diplomatic allies to switch their recognition from Taipei to Beijing; barring the nation from the WHA, the International Civil Aviation Organization, the Interpol and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change; unilaterally launching northbound flights on the M503 aviation route, which is close to the median line of the Taiwan Strait; and coercing other nations to deport Taiwanese fraud suspects to China for trial, the source said.
The Hakka Affairs Council was in February to attend a cultural exchange event in Mauritius, but the hotel canceled the event, citing pressure from the local Chinese embassy.
Similarly, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Jordan was last month invited to the International City Festival, but the host removed Republic of China national flags from Taiwan’s booth due to Chinese pressure.
More examples can be cited that illustrate how China forces other nations to observe its “one China” principle, yet Taiwan is garnering more support from the international community, the source said.
For example, US President Donald Trump in March signed the Taiwan Travel Act, and the US White House earlier this month said that China’s attempt to control the name by which US airlines refer to Taiwan is “Orwellian nonsense.”
The EU and the US, Japan and other nations that are friendly to Taiwan have expressed the intention to argue on behalf of Taiwan at this year’s WHA.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed support for the nation by writing a piece of calligraphy that read, “Taiwan, good luck,” which he posted on his official Facebook page after Hualien was rocked by a deadly earthquake in February.
President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) pledge to maintain the cross-strait “status quo” aims to attract more international allies by letting them know that it is Beijing that continues sabotaging the peaceful “status quo,” the source said.
The greater the pressure from China, the more the government will pursue this policy, the source said, adding that Tsai’s administration would not concede to Chinese pressure and change its cross-strait policy.
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