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Why Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-wen may not attend Apec summit in US after all
- Washington has chosen to follow ‘past practice’ on invites, and any change must be backed by all Apec members, Taipei’s de facto envoy to the US says
- Taiwan joined Apec in 1991 as ‘Chinese Taipei’ but has never sent its leader to the annual summit because of objections from Beijing
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Lawrence Chungin Taipei
Taiwan’s hopes of having its president attend this year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in person look set to be dashed, despite increasing closeness with event hosts the US.
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Washington has so far chosen to follow past practice in extending an invitation to Taiwan for the November event, Hsiao Bi-Khim, the island’s de facto ambassador to the United States, told a news conference on Monday.
Hsiao was asked whether Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen would be able to attend the summit in San Francisco, given the island’s increasingly close ties with the US.
“The US side still adheres to its position of looking at the matter in line with past normal behaviour and practices,” she responded, referring to the long-held practice that only business leaders or senior retired officials could represent the Taiwanese president at such events.
Hsiao said since the early 1990s, there had been a certain procedure for Taiwan’s participation in the Apec summit and this was generally accepted by all members as the set practice, according to a video clip posted on the website of Taiwan’s semi-official Central News Agency.
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“Any substantial changes in [such practice] would need the consensus of all Apec members,” she said.
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