The Taipei Trade Office in Fiji has been restored to its former name, the Trade Mission of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to the Republic of Fiji, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
Fiji on Friday last week issued a note verbale to the office saying that the name change was retroactively effective from March 15, Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Director-General Wallace Chow (周民淦) told a news conference in Taipei.
The mission’s diplomatic privileges have been reinstated as stipulated in Fiji’s Diplomatic Privileges and Immunities Act, which was enacted in 1971, Chow said.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Taiwan set up a trade mission in Fiji in 1971, which was closed and replaced by the East Asia Trade Center in 1976, a year after China and Fiji established diplomatic relations.
The East Asia Trade Center was renamed the Trade Mission of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to the Republic of Fiji in 1988, before Beijing pressured Fiji to change it to the Taipei Trade Office in Fiji in 2018 and to revoke the privileges of Taiwanese diplomats.
Taiwan typically uses the term “Taipei” instead of its official name “Republic of China (Taiwan)” when naming its de facto embassies in most nations, mainly because the host nation adheres to Beijing’s “one China” principle.
After the Fijian general elections in December last year, pro-democratic opposition parties the People’s Alliance Party, the National Federation Party and the Social Democratic Liberal Party formed a coalition and overruled the name change imposed by the former government, Chow said.
The new government acknowledges Taiwan’s contributions in the fields of agriculture, fisheries, medical care and education, which have benefited the people of Fiji since Taiwan established its representative office in 1971, he said.
The ministry thanked Fiji for its decision, adding that Fiji is a like-minded partner in the Pacific region and Taiwan would continue to boost its ties with the nation.
Although China has so far made no comment on the change, “it might react quite aggressively,” Chow said.
Asked whether the move indicates that Fiji has the intention to have simultaneous diplomatic relations with Taiwan and China, he said that the ministry does not exclude the possibility and it would deliberate on any proposal to expand Fiji’s economic and trade space with Taiwan.
Fiji closed its representative office in Taipei in 2017, reportedly due to a need to make better use of its resources and not because of pressure from China.
A diplomatic source told the Central News Agency (CNA) that the new Fijian government, which is more friendly toward Taiwan, has been in talks to reopen the office in Taipei.
Despite the lack of official diplomatic ties with Taiwan, Fijian leaders have visited Taiwan and even spoken up for Taiwan’s international participation on several occasions, CNA cited the source as saying.
Additional reporting by CNA
UPDATED (3:40pm): A suspected gas explosion at a shopping mall in Taichung this morning has killed four people and injured 20 others, as emergency responders continue to investigate. The explosion occurred on the 12th floor of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi in Situn District (西屯) at 11:33am. One person was declared dead at the scene, while three people were declared deceased later after receiving emergency treatment. Another 20 people sustained major or minor injuries. The Taichung Fire Bureau said it received a report of the explosion at 11:33am and sent rescuers to respond. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation, it said. The National Fire
ALL-IN-ONE: A company in Tainan and another in New Taipei City offer tours to China during which Taiwanese can apply for a Chinese ID card, the source said The National Immigration Agency and national security authorities have identified at least five companies that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese identification cards while traveling in China, a source said yesterday. The issue has garnered attention in the past few months after YouTuber “Pa Chiung” (八炯) said that there are companies in Taiwan that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese documents. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) last week said that three to five public relations firms in southern and northern Taiwan have allegedly assisted Taiwanese in applying for Chinese ID cards and were under investigation for potential contraventions of the Act Governing
‘INVESTMENT’: Rubio and Arevalo said they discussed the value of democracy, and Rubio thanked the president for Guatemala’s strong diplomatic relationship with Taiwan Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Guatemala City on Wednesday where they signed a deal for Guatemala to accept migrants deported from the US, while Rubio commended Guatemala for its support for Taiwan and said the US would do all it can to facilitate greater Taiwanese investment in Guatemala. Under the migrant agreement announced by Arevalo, the deportees would be returned to their home countries at US expense. It is the second deportation deal that Rubio has reached during a Central America trip that has been focused mainly on immigration. Arevalo said his
‘SOVEREIGN AI’: As of Nov. 19 last year, Taiwan was globally ranked No. 11 for having computing power of 103 petaflops. The governments wants to achieve 1,200 by 2029 The government would intensify efforts to bolster its “Sovereign Artificial Intelligence [AI]” program by setting a goal of elevating the nation’s collective computing power in the public and private sectors to 1,200 peta floating points per second (petaflops) by 2029, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The goal was set to fulfill President William Lai’s (賴清德) vision of turning Taiwan into an “AI island.” Sovereign AI refers to a nation’s capabilities to produce AI using its own infrastructure, data, workforce and business networks. One petaflop allows 1 trillion calculations per second. As of Nov. 19 last year, Taiwan was globally ranked No. 11 for
RSS