Taiwan slams China for pressuring Belgium to remove flag, cancel book fair honour

Brussels [Belgium] April 30 (ANI): The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) expressed strong disapproval on Tuesday regarding China's attempts to diminish Taiwan's presence on the international stage, following a report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists that detailed pressure from the Chinese embassy in Belgium to take down the Taiwanese flag at the nation's representative office in 2022, as reported by Taipei Times.
The flag was taken down in January 2023, and the plan to feature Taiwan as the guest of honour at the previous year's Brussels International Book Fair was also scrapped due to fears of a backlash from China, according to a report by Belgium's French-language newspaper Le Soir.
This report was part of the consortium's "China Targets" series, which investigates how Beijing "misuses international organisations to intimidate its critics and spread its repressive methods globally." Tanguy Roosen, director of the Brussels International Book Fair, informed the newspaper that the fair had intended to highlight Asian countries last year, but the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs advised against it, Taipei Times reported.
MOFA remarked that China's efforts to frame the Taiwan situation as a matter of "domestic politics" aim to exclude Taiwan from international backing. "We urge the global community to take substantive action against China's attempts to alter the status quo," it stated.
The international community must make it clear that it opposes Beijing's use of legal, psychological, and media warfare against Taiwan to collectively maintain stability and prosperity in the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific region, it added, according to Taipei Times.
Roy Lee, the representative to Belgium, commented that China's oppression of Taiwan has been widespread and unyielding, and Taiwan's diplomatic representatives will persist in advocating for the acknowledgement and visibility of the nation's rights by the international community.
Sara van Hoeymissen, an expert in world politics at the Royal Military Academy of Belgium, explained that the representative office is navigating a delicate balance regarding diplomatic actions that are permissible.
According to Van Hoeymissen, the Chinese embassy continuously engages with the Belgian government about the official terminology used for Taiwan in formal documents, insisting that any references to Taiwan avoid any implication of independence, as reported by Taipei Times. (ANI)