Taiwan did not boycott APEC

The Jakarta Post ran a report in its Oct. 20 issue on page 9 entitled Taiwan boycotts APEC, sees setback in China ties. This is due to the fact that China did not send us an invitation so naturally we did not attend the meeting. We deeply regret China's failure to fulfill its obligation as host of the meeting and to abide by APEC's rules of the game.

This year on APEC's agenda was the issue of cooperation against terrorism. As a contribution to efforts to eliminate terrorism, Taiwan's president Chen Shui Bian had decided to send Mr. Li Yuan Zu, an adviser who is a legal and political expert to attend the meeting. China had been informed about the decision to send the envoy last August, therefore, China would still have had enough time to send us an invitation.

Rumor has it Mr. Li could not be invited to the meeting because he was once vice president. However, why was Mr. Vincent C. Siew who once served as prime minister allowed to participate in the meeting while Mr. Li, who was once vice president, was denied the opportunity?

Some others say that Mr. Li has no grasp of economics, yet many of the participants, take for example, Jiang Zemin are not economic experts.

China is said to have acted pursuant to an APEC 1991 ruling which governs the attendance of Taiwan's envoys at APEC meetings. But the first APEC summit only convened in 1993, making it impossible for China to implement the 1991 APEC ruling. Taiwan has been an active member of APEC since 1991. And apart from fostering good relationships with APEC members, it has contributed significantly to Asia-Pacific economic development.

By denying our participation in the meeting, China has breached the spirit of APEC cooperation and offended the feelings of Taiwan's people.

We do hope that this incident will not hamper our participation in APEC conferences in the future.

DEREK HSU

Director

Information Department

Taipei Economic and Trade Office

Jakarta