By: Anish Chand
Taiwan has lodged a protest with Fiji alleging that China had forced
Suva to change the name of the Taiwanese Trade Office located in the
capital.
Liberty Times, a Taiwanese newspaper, reports that the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA)
lodged the protest last week.
The office would have to replace the name “Trade Mission of the
Republic of China (Taiwan) to the Republic of Fiji” with Taipei Trade
Office in Fiji, the Liberty Times reports.
Taiwan and Fiji have maintained close unofficial relations since 1971,
with cooperation in fields of healthcare, fisheries and agriculture.
“China had used its growing financial clout to bully Fiji into
demanding the name change,” the Liberty Times reports.
MOFA said it had protested but was also continuing efforts to persuade
Fiji to reverse its decision.
China refuses to maintain diplomatic relations with any nation that
recognises Taiwan, but does not object to nations conducting economic,
cultural, and other such exchanges with Taiwan that do not imply
diplomatic relation.
Islands Business has sought comment from Fiji’s Foreign Affairs Ministry on the matter.
Six Pacific Island nations recognise Taiwan, but one of those, the Solomon Islands, has set up a taskforce is considering whether it should
maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan or switch to China.
Taiwan and Solomon Islands have had diplomatic relations since the 1983.