Wikimedia Taiwan yesterday called on China to take responsibility for intellectual property (IP) issues after a Chinese delegation pressed the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to suspend a review of the Wikimedia Foundation’s application for observer status.
The WIPO is a UN specialized agency committed to developing a balanced and effective global IP system.
When its member states on Wednesday examined the foundation’s application for observer status, a Chinese delegate asked the assembly to suspend the discussion, non-governmental organization (NGO) Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) reported.
Photo: Reuters
“As of October 2015 this foundation had 41 recognized chapters and thematic organizations, one of which is Wikimedia Taiwan, established in the province of China,” the KEI quoted the Chinese delegate as saying. “There is reason to believe that this foundation has been carrying out political activities through its member organizations, which could undermine the state’s [China’s] sovereignty and territorial integrity, therefore, it is not fitting for the foundation to serve as an observer to this professional organization.”
The delegate asked the assembly to suspend discussion of Wikimedia Foundation’s application “before the foundation could further clarify such questions as member organizations and Taiwan related positions,” the KEI reported.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday criticized the Chinese delegate.
Photo screen grab from the Taiwan Wild Bird Federation Facebook Page
The delegate is seeking to impose political censorship on the Wikimedia Foundation and override professionalism with politics, the ministry said.
The application was supported by the delegates from the UK and the US, showing that there are still “voices of justice” inside the global organization, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said in a statement.
Reviewing NGOs’ applications for observer status is irrelevant to the so-called “one China” issue, Ou said, urging the WIPO to adopt a professional approach in examining the foundation’s application.
The WIPO should not become an agent of Chinese expansionism in global organizations or an accomplice in subduing NGOs, otherwise it would fall short of its goals of protecting global IP, she said.
Wikimedia Taiwan issued statements in Chinese and English.
The Wikimedia movement has demonstrated how open licenses encourage users to join hands to create an enormous, astonishing knowledge base, the statement said.
The “fact that our mere existence has become an excuse for a country to hold back a major global affair’s development is astonishingly ridiculous, especially for this to happen in a formal meeting of a UN organization,” it said.
Wikimedia Taiwan “is an independent and autonomous organization that works closely with Wikimedia Foundation,” it said.
However, Wikimedia’s relationship to the Wikimedia foundation is as a partner, not an affiliate, the statement said.
“We, Wikimedia Taiwan, have nothing to do with Wikimedia Foundation’s application to the WIPO,” it added.
“Furthermore, one of the Wikimedia Foundation’s platforms ... Chinese Wikipedia’s content was constantly under the threat of China’s piracy and various means that violat[e] Creative Commons’ public licensing,” it said.
If China wants to become a responsible country on IP issues, it first needs to face the issue directly and propose a solution, and not allow China to become a haven of piracy and play “politics on an international platform, blocking out people’s right to participate in the discussion,” the statement said.
In other developments, a Taiwanese bird monitoring group yesterday announced it has changed its name to the Taiwan Wild Bird Federation, while reiterating that it has never taken a political position.
The group, previously the Chinese Wild Bird Federation, this month became the latest front line in China’s efforts to assert sovereignty over Taiwan.
“We are conservationists, not political actors. In fact, it was BirdLife who asked us to take a political stance by insisting we sign an overtly political declaration and by describing us as a ‘risk,’ without ever clearly defining what that risk was,” it said, adding that it had refused to sign any political documents.
Cambridge-based conservation group BirdLife International cut ties with the federation over concerns that it was promoting Taiwanese independence.
The federation wrote on its Web site yesterday that BirdLife said it was committed to “follow UN positions and protocols on countries and territories” and to treating Taiwan, which it referred to as “Chinese Taiwan,” as part of China.
BirdLife, which said that it was responding to an internal risk review, demanded that the group stop using the name Republic of China (ROC), “and/or any other expression suggesting independence.”
It also asked it to formally commit not to advocate or promote in any way Taiwan’s independence or the legitimacy of the ROC.
BirdLife did not respond to several requests for comment.
Additional reporting by Reuters
DEATH THREAT: A MAC official said that it has urged Beijing to avoid creating barriers that would impede exchanges across the Strait, but it continues to do so People should avoid unnecessary travel to China after Beijing issued 22 guidelines allowing its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death “Taiwan independence separatists,” the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday as it raised its travel alert for China, including Hong Kong and Macau, to “orange.” The guidelines published last week “severely threaten the personal safety of Taiwanese traveling to China, Hong Kong and Macau,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a news conference in Taipei. “Following a comprehensive assessment, the government considers it necessary to elevate the travel alert to orange from yellow,” Liang said. Beijing has
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Chinese policymakers have struggled to reignite growth since late 2022, when restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. The world’s second-largest economy is beset by a debt crisis in the property sector, persistently low consumption and high unemployment among young people. Policymakers “are planning and implementing major measures to further deepen reform in a comprehensive manner,” Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
SOLUTIONS NEEDED: Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers due to population decline, the minister of economic affairs said in Washington President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration is considering a plan to import labor to deal with an impending shortage of engineers and other highly skilled workers, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said in Washington on Tuesday. Kuo was leading a delegation attending the SelectUSA Investment Summit. Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers for high-end manufacturing jobs by 2040, he said. Ministry of Economic Affairs officials are still calculating the precise number of workers that are needed, as it works on loosening immigration restrictions and creating incentives, Kuo said. Taiwanese firms operating factories in the US and other countries would