The Republic of China’s embassy in Belgium was forced to remove the national flag from the rooftop over two years ago due to diplomatic pressures. Today, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China pointed out that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been pressuring various governments in an attempt to limit Taiwan’s international space. The ministry called on the international community to take concrete actions to counter the CCP’s actions that undermine the international status quo.
The French-language Belgian newspaper “Le Soir” reported on April 28 in collaboration with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on the “China Targets” series of investigations, revealing the CCP’s transnational suppression of dissidents and mentioning that the Chinese Embassy in Belgium pressured the Belgian government on Taiwan-related issues. The Republic of China’s national flag was removed in early 2023. Additionally, last year, the Brussels International Book Fair, which originally planned to invite Taiwan as the theme country, was canceled due to concerns regarding the CCP.
The report indicated that at the end of 2022, the Chinese Embassy requested the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to find a way to remove the Republic of China’s national flag from the top of the Taiwan representative office in Belgium. “The Belgian Foreign Ministry apparently conveyed this request to Taiwan under the urgent desire to avoid any incidents,” and the flag was removed in early 2023.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China released a press statement today stating that the CCP’s suppression of Taiwan in the international arena has been continuous and widespread, even pressuring various governments through various means in an attempt to restrict the Republic of China’s international space and constrain Taiwan’s democracy and freedom. The ministry strongly condemned these actions.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Taiwan stated that faced with the CCP’s ambition to change the existing international order based on international rules and misinterpreting Taiwan’s issue as a “domestic problem” to block international support for Taiwan, the Republic of China will strive to defend Taiwan’s international space.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also called on the international community to continue taking concrete actions to counter the CCP’s efforts to undermine the international status quo and explicitly oppose Beijing’s repeated attempts to change the peace in the Taiwan Strait through legal warfare, psychological warfare, and propaganda, jointly maintaining stability and prosperity in the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific region.