No ‘downgrading’ at China APEC meeting: minister

Taiwan was not subjected to any “downgrading” during at an APEC ministerial meeting in China and was granted the same rights as other members, Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) said yesterday.

“During our participation in the meeting, we did not encounter any so-called downgrading,” Hung told reporters after arriving at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon.

Hung was returning from the eighth APEC Human Resources Development Ministerial Meeting in Nanjing, where he became the first ministry head in President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration to travel to China.

Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han, front right, walks through Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday after returning from an APEC ministerial meeting in Nanjing, China.

Photo: CNA

Speaking after the three-day trip, Hung said that “through our continued insistence and with the assistance of the APEC secretariat, the Chinese side granted us rights equal to those of other members in accordance with APEC rules.”

That was consistent with Taiwan’s insistence on “reciprocal dignity,” Hung said, referring to a principle he had laid out before departing for China for APEC, one of the few major international forums in which Taiwan is a formal member.

The minister also confirmed that he neither applied for nor used a “Taiwan compatriot permit” — a travel document issued by China to Taiwanese, whose passports Beijing does not recognize for travel to China — for the trip.

“We followed the usual practice and entered China using an invitation letter,” Hung said, referring to the arrangements for Taiwanese officials attending APEC meetings in China.

Asked whether the nameplate reading “Chinese Taipei” in front of him at the meeting constituted downgrading, Hung reiterated that Chinese Taipei is Taiwan’s formal membership name in APEC.

“What we really need to insist on is that, as a formal APEC member, we enjoy the same rights as other members,” he said.

The trip drew attention as a rare cross-strait visit by a Cabinet-level official from the Democratic Progressive Party amid strained ties between Taipei and Beijing.

Ahead of Hung’s trip, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office on Sept. 2 said that Beijing would handle Taiwan’s participation according to its “one China” principle, APEC memorandums and established practices.