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.