It has come to public notice that People’s Republic of China (PRC) diplomats are trying to bully foreign diplomats, pressurising them not to attend a high- level summit focused on China. The PRC uses its ‘coercive tactics’ to harass the foreign lawmakers in order to force them from not attending the IPAC Taiwan Summit 2024 in Taipei.
IPAC Taiwan Summit 2024 is the annual parliamentarian summit organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), an international organisation bringing together legislators from many countries, with a stated objective to uphold the rules-based system. This Summit gathers elected representatives from more than 20 countries making it the largest delegation of foreign parliament members ever to attend Taiwan. As this Summit brings in the global attention and also results in key outcomes, the PRC has begun to exert its undue influence. It has started intimidating the attendees participating in the Summit. Lawmakers from Bolivia, Colombia, Slovakia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and one other Asian country have got messages, calls and even diktats not to attend the IPAC Taiwan Summit 2024 from the PRC diplomats either directly or at times indirectly.
The PRC’s tactics are autocratic because these messages impose absence. These egregious attempts to interfere into the domestic affairs of other countries, and also isolate Taiwan at the International level by the PRC exposes it’s hegemonic intentions.
PRC’s hegemonic toolkit includes- plans to cut off the diplomatic partners of Taiwan, sending warnings to would be attendees who engage with Taiwan, dissuading countries from having economic exchanges with Taiwan, and punishing countries by sanctioning them if they establish relations with Taipei. The PRC also often seeks re-affirmations from countries to adhere to its so-called ‘One-China’ policy. However, this time, it has only bolstered the tenacity for the legislators to partake in the IPAC Taiwan Summit 2024 discussions in Taipei.
RLA strongly criticises PRC’s campaign to dissuade representatives and confirm their absence at the gatherings in Taiwan. It’s high-time for the PRC to accept the reality that Taiwan is a democratic country which cannot be undermined by such Chinese Communist Party (CCP) directed influence operations. The PRC’s interference in the domestic affairs of other countries is also unfortunate and we urge the world to stay united against forces acting against democracy.
