Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced it would not send a delegation to the World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial meeting in Cameroon for the first time, following a dispute over visa documents that referred to Taiwan as a "province of China." The ministry said this insulted the nation's dignity and showed no sincerity in resolving the issue.
Taiwan's government announced today (24 March) that it would not send representatives to the WTO's high-level meeting scheduled in Cameroon from 26 to 29 March, following a serious conflict with the host country over Taiwan's name in official documents.
Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed it strongly protested after discovering that Cameroonian authorities labeled Taiwan in the delegation’s travel documents as "Taiwan, Province of China." Although Cameroon later offered a "visa exemption" instead, the documents contained no nationality, had English spelling errors, and incorrectly listed almost all delegates' gender as "female." Taiwan viewed these as insincere attempts to resolve the issue.
The ministry's statement said, "Considering that our delegation might face entry barriers if using documents with such errors, and to preserve national dignity, we had no choice but to decide not to attend this meeting."
Taiwan has been a WTO member since 2002 as a "Separate Customs Territory," with equal status and independent of other members. Its official WTO designation is "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu" (Chinese Taipei).
This development occurs amid China's efforts to remove Taiwan's name from international forums, asserting that Taiwan is part of China's sovereign territory. China frequently opposes the use of "Taiwan" or "Republic of China" in international meetings. Meanwhile, the WTO has declined to comment on this dispute.
. Source: AFP