The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday confirmed that the Papua New Guinean government last month insisted that Taiwan’s representative office change its name due to repeated pressure from China.
Since late last year, China had taken advantage of its status as the second-largest provider of aid to Papua New Guinea (PNG) to keep pressuring the government to change the name of Taiwan’s representative office and its treatment of the office’s staff, ministry spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) said.
“Despite the office’s best efforts, the PNG government was not able to withstand China’s carrot-and-stick pressure and eventually demanded a change of name,” Lee said, adding that the name change does not have any substantial impact on the office’s operations.
China’s demands first came to the ministry’s attention in February when Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Geng Shuang (耿爽) praised the PNG government’s adherence to the “one China” principle when responding to reporters’ questions over allegations that Taiwan’s trade office had been asked to rename itself.
The ministry acknowledged at the time that the nation’s trade office in PNG had been asked to change its name, as well as remove its nameplate and diplomatic license plates from its vehicles, but stressed that bilateral negotiations were still underway.
The office, which was previously named the Trade Mission of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in Papua New Guinea has been renamed as the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Papua New Guinea.
It is not the nation’s first overseas representative office to have been forced to undergo a name change due to Chinese pressure.
The nation’s trade offices in Ecuador, Bahrain, Nigeria, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates have also been forced to remove the term Republic of China or Taiwan from their designation.
Taiwan and PNG, despite not having formal diplomatic relations, have had close exchanges in the areas of energy, trade and fisheries since the 1990s, Lee said.
“Taiwan has also begun cooperating on agriculture and medical health,” he said.
The ministry understands the situation the nation’s international friends face due to Chinese pressure, Lee said, adding that Taiwan would continue its substantial exchanges and cooperation with PNG to safeguard its dignity and rights.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
RSS