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Pressure on
our NGOs unrelated to ‘truce’: MOFA
SINGLED OUT: More than 10
Taiwanese NGOs faced pressure from China or from their international
headquarters to change their names or locations
By Jenny W. Hsu
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Jan 01, 2010, Page 3
A number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) faced heavy pressure from
China this year to change their names, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA)
yesterday said this was unrelated to President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) call for a
“diplomatic truce” with Beijing.
NGO Affairs Committee Vice Chairman David Wu (吳建國) yesterday said more than 10
Taiwanese NGOs faced stiff pressure — either directly from China or from the
NGO’s international headquarters — to change their names or registered location
to “Taiwan, China” or other options more palatable to Beijing.
The number of incidents “decreased slightly” from a year earlier, Wu said. When
asked by the Taipei Times for exact figures, however, he declined to answer and
said “numbers are meaningless.”
Wu named as an example the Internet Society Taiwan Chapter, which was asked by
the NGOs headquarters to change its location to “Taiwan, China.” The Taiwan
chapter has not complied.
Taiwan and China are still negotiating over the problem and the headquarters has
responded positively toward Taiwan’s case, Wu said.
Wu said Taiwan’s avid participation in international NGOs ensured its
involvement in various humanitarian efforts and allowed the nation to contribute
to solving global problems.
Taiwan’s status and designation in international NGOs have “far less
significance” for Taiwan’s sovereignty than the country’s participation in
international governmental organizations such as the World Health Assembly or
the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Wu said.
Speaking at the annual NGO Exhibit earlier this month, Ma called on Beijing to
stop obstructing Taiwan’s participation in global NGOs “or else Taiwanese will
have a bad impression of mainland China.”
Lawmakers across party lines have suggested the matter be included in future
cross-strait negotiations, but the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has said the
timing is not ripe for such discussions because the cross-strait dialogue must
focus on the economy before broaching political topics.
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