Taiwan and APEC

Taiwan and APEC

This is a response to a report entitled President of Taiwan
not to attend APEC that appeared on page one in The Jakarta Post
of Aug. 22, 1994 issue.

The report's fifth paragraph says,"Succumbing to Chinese
pressure, (President) Lee Teng-hui absented himself from last
year's inaugural APEC leaders meeting on Blake Island." It's not
true at all. The truth is major players of APEC were and still
are quite receptive to the PRC's pressure and threats. Most
people know the fact that all APEC members are entitled to equal
right of participation in meetings held under the framework of
APEC. Why then President Lee should be excluded from its summit-
meeting?

The report's sixth paragraph says in part, "(ROC) presidential
spokesperson, Raymond Tai, in Taipei claimed that Indonesia had
extended an invitation to (President) Lee." It's again not true.
Mr. Tai only said that "The APEC meeting is informal and has
nothing to do with politics. There is no reason why the Chinese
communists should try to block us from attending. It was also
very unwise for them to do so since the participation is
advantageous to all economies in the region.

DAVID Y.S. TZOU

Information Director

Taipei Economic and Trade Office

Jakarta