Foreign Minister Timothy Yang last week said that his ministry has protested against the downgrading of Taiwan’s status on two international bodies — apparently at the behest of Beijing.
Local media reported that Taiwan has been downgraded at the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC).
The Chinese-language newspaper the Liberty Times ran a story last week saying that Taiwan was originally listed as a national member on the SRA website, but it has now been moved to the regional member category, allegedly because of China’s suppression.
Another downgrading happened at the annual meeting of the IATTC, which was held last month in Antigua, Guatemala. During the meeting, the Chinese representatives refused to have Taiwan’s national flag on display or any mention of the nation’s official name, the Republic of China, the report said.
“Our representatives immediately lodged strong protest against these actions of downgrading our nation’s status,†Yang said during a legislative session.
However, the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers believe that the two incidents indicate that Chinese suppression will continue despite the ruling Kuomintang’s claims that both sides are on good terms — especially after the signing of the cross-strait economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA).
Yang also acknowledged that if Beijing continues to suppress Taiwan’s involvement in the international arena, the cross-strait relations that have been thawing in recent years would face further challenges.
