A Taiwanese delegation was forced to leave a high-level meeting in Brussels on Monday due to suppression from China. Taiwan has since lodged strong protests against China, Belgium, and the Organization for Economic and Cooperation and Development (OECD). That’s the word from foreign ministry official Hsu Pei-yung on Tuesday.
Though Taiwan is not a member of the OECD, it has been invited as an observer to attend the high-level symposium on the steel sector co-sponsored by Belgium and the OECD since 2005. The recent incident was the first time that Taiwan was not allowed to attend.
Foreign ministry official Hsu explained the actions taken by the Taiwan government.
“We have already lodged a strong protest to China through the Mainland Affairs Council on the unfriendly gesture," said Hsu. "At the same time, our representative office in the EU and Belgium has lodged a protest to the Belgium government. Because the OECD headquarters is in Paris, we have also asked our representative office in France to file a protest with the OECD.”
Taiwan’s delegation was however able to attend the regular Steel Committee meeting on Tuesday after being forced to leave the high-level symposium. The Belgium government also apologized later in the day.