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Published Date: 2021-11-11
The foreign
ministry is protesting China’s insistence that Taiwan’s participation in APEC
be contingent on the “one China principle”.
APEC, or
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, is a forum promoting free trade in the
Asia-Pacific region. Taiwan has been a member economy of APEC since 1991.
This year’s APEC
meeting will be held virtually on Friday. On Wednesday, the spokesperson for
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said that Beijing’s “one China principle” must be
observed when Taiwan plays a role in regional economic issues.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry,
however, says that the document that allowed Taiwan to join APEC makes no
mention of a “one China principle”. The ministry says that since joining APEC,
Taiwan has been a full member that participates independently in its economic
and trade discussions. The ministry also says that Taiwan has an equal position
in APEC and shares equal responsibilities with all of the other APEC members.
The foreign
ministry says that Taiwan does not and has never been part of the People’s
Republic of China, and that only Taiwan’s democratically elected government has
any right to represent Taiwan’s people.