Taiwan slams China for pressuring Belgium to remove flag

Brussels: 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. (ANI)

Also Read: Pakistan minister holds emergency press meet at 2 am, says India's military action within 24 to 36 hours

Also Watch: