Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Vanessa Shih (史亞平) said yesterday the nation had not been downgraded by the title on the invitation letter to November’s APEC summit in Beijing, in which the president is referred to as “the Honorable Mister” and the “economic leader of Chinese Taipei.”
Shih said the invitation was received at Taipei Guest House by Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) and other council and ministry officials responsible for handling APEC-related affairs.
“The invitation was later handed over to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by Wang,” Shih said. “The invitation letter, as in English letter-writing format, has a courtesy title, name and position title on it. The first line reads ‘The Honorable Mr Ma Ying-jeou’ and the second line, where the position title is listed, reads ‘Economic Leader of Chinese Taipei.’”
She said that as the APEC economic leaders’ meeting participants are taking part in the capacity of their countries’ economic leaders, “we consider the titles put down on the invitation acceptable, and there were precedents [of being referred to as such] that could be followed.”
“There is no question of [Taiwan] being relegated by this year’s invitation, be it the courtesy title, position title or the content,” Shih said. “It was decided to be acceptable to both sides after bilateral communication. We will participate [in the meeting] based on the principles of practicality and dignity.”
When asked by reporters whether the title “president” had been used in the precedents, Shih said the title used could “vary every year.”
“There was a time when ‘The Honorable’ was not used in the courtesy title. Both ‘president’ and ‘economic leader’ have been used before,” she said.
During the question-and-answer session at a meeting of the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Wednesday, the title “economic leader” was not mentioned when Wang was questioned by Democratic Progressive Legislator Chen Chih-mai (陳其邁), who said that “the Honorable Mister” was a downgraded way of addressing the country’s leader, as “president” had been used before.
Separately, sources said that China has refused National Development Council Minister Kuan Chung-ming’s (管中閔) attendance at the upcoming Beijing meeting, citing “inappropriate” wording of Kuan’s title, more specifically the word “national,” despite Kuan having represented Taiwan at last year’s APEC meeting.
China’s most recent denial to allow Kuan’s attendance may intend to force Taiwan’s hand on the international economy, sources said.
The only thing that changed was that the former Council for Economic Planning and Development had been elevated in administrative status to the National Development Council.
The government is mulling replacing Kuan with Minister of Finance Chang Sheng-ford (張盛和), according to Ministry of Economic Affairs sources.
Meanwhile, sources said that it would be difficult for Mainland Affairs Council Minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) to retain his “special privileges” of keeping his ministerial title in the meeting.
China also hinted that insistence on the matter might only lead to a stall in talks, the ministry said.
Depriving Taiwan of the presence of its experts on trade and finance at the forum may give China more leverage to pressure Taiwan for political gains, analysts said.
Additional reporting by Huang Pei-chun, Wang Meng-lun
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and Chunghwa Telecom yesterday confirmed that an international undersea cable near Keelung Harbor had been cut by a Chinese ship, the Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. Chunghwa Telecom said the cable had its own backup equipment, and the incident would not affect telecommunications within Taiwan. The CGA said it dispatched a ship under its first fleet after receiving word of the incident and located the Shunxin-39 7 nautical miles (13km) north of Yehliu (野柳) at about 4:40pm on Friday. The CGA demanded that the Shunxin-39 return to seas closer to Keelung Harbor for investigation over the
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
RSS