An invitation to this year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leadership meeting addresses President Ma Ying-jeou with the term “Honorable Mister” instead of “President”. That’s the word from the Mainland Affairs Council on Wednesday.
The Mainland Affairs Council said “Honorable Mister” has been used in APEC invitations before. So the format of the invitation is in line with protocol.
The MAC also said China handled the invitation in line with protocol. The council was responding to speculations that the way the APEC invitation was delivered downgraded Taiwan’s sovereign status. APEC usually sends an envoy to personally deliver the invitation to the head of state. But this year, the invitation sent to Taiwan was delivered by Gong Qinggai, deputy head of the Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) under China's State Council. The letter was not delivered to Ma but to Mainland Affairs Council Minister Wang Yu-chi instead.
The MAC said that as TAO's deputy head, Gong is an incumbent deputy minister-level Chinese official. So China sending him as an envoy is also in line with protocol.