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China's efforts to suppress Taiwan on the decline

ROC Central News Agency

Taipei, Sept. 13 (CNA) China seems to have relented in its ongoing diplomatic campaign to pressure Taiwan in the international arena, as fewer examples of such behavior were reported to the foreign ministry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Saturday.

"In the first half of the year, there were relatively fewer examples of China's’suppression of Taiwan, " said MOFA spokesman Henry Chen after the ministry updated its Web page listing China's latest attempts to denigrate Taiwan in the international arena.

The foreign ministry updates the site every three months to inform the public of incidents in which Beijing undermines Taiwan's participation in various international political, economic, trade, athletic or cultural events.

It remains unclear, however, if the trend is related to President Ma Ying-jeou's election March 22 and the "modus vivendi" diplomatic strategy he put in place after being inaugurated May 20.

Ma has described his "modus vivendi" approach as a pragmatic diplomatic strategy to gain more international space for Taiwan.

It aims to safeguard Taiwan's rights while consolidating diplomatic relations with allies and restoring mutual trust with countries that heavily influence Taiwan even in the absence of formal diplomatic ties.

Ma also proposed a“diplomatic truce”aimed at ending the longstanding diplomatic tug-of-war with China in which both countries try to lure each other’s allies to switch diplomatic allegiance by offering them large sums of money in foreign aid.

According to the MOFA Web site, among the incidents in which China exerted its political clout on Taiwan was when Beijing reasserted its claim of sovereignty over Taiwan and the Tiaoyutai Islands after a Taiwanese recreational boat collided with a Japanese patrol vessel and sunk near the islands June 10.

After the incident, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang referred to the Taiwanese vessel as a“Taiwan, China”fishing boat and reiterated that the Tiaoyutais are part of Chinese territory.

The spokesman also demanded that the Japanese Coast Guard end any illegal encroachment into Chinese territorial waters.

In another attempt to suppress Taiwan's international presence, China on May 20 blocked Taiwan's bid to participate as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA) -- the World Health Organization's top decision-making body.

China also successfully prevented officials of Taiwan's representative office in Germany from attending a seminar held by Germany's health department by protesting and threatening to withdraw from the event. (By Rachel Chan) Enditem/ls