Taiwan Strait expected to be focus of IPAC summit

SHOW OF SOLIDARITY:
The event, which is the first IPAC summit held in a non-member country, demonstrates that the world supports Taiwan, a DPP lawmaker said

• By Huang Ching-hsuan,
  Su Yung-yao and Esme Yeh / Staff reporters, with staff writer

Cross-strait issues would be among the top items on the agenda in the annual summit of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) to be held in Taipei tomorrow, which would also include a “Taiwan session,” during which President William Lai (賴清德) and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) are to deliver speeches.

This would be the first IPAC summit held in Taiwan, and is also the first IPAC summit to be held in a non-member nation, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Fan Yun (范雲) said, adding that this demonstrates that the world supports Taiwan.

Cross-strait stability is one of the highlights on the summit’s agenda this year, with related issues to be discussed by governmental officials and the world’s best experts, sources said yesterday.

Photo: Screen grab from the IPAC’s Web site

Another highlight is cybersecurity, as in March more than 400 e-mail accounts associated with IPAC were attacked by the Chinese hacking group APT31, the IPAC said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement yesterday said that a total of 49 lawmakers and politicians from 23 countries and the European Parliament would take part in the event, including Australian Senator Deborah O’Neill, Czech lawmaker Eva Decroix and French Senator Olivier Cadic.

The IPAC has become even more significant with the rise of party disagreements and political violence, as it is “creating space for consensus across party lines” and facilitates “compromise across the spectrum,” European Parliament Vice-President Pina Picierno was quoted as saying in an IPAC news release published on Tuesday last week.

“Some issues transcend party and geography” and “Taiwan is undoubtedly one of those issues,” she was quoted as saying.

“There has never been a more important time to stand with Taiwan,” British Member of Parliament Tom Tugendhat was quoted as saying in the IPAC news release.

The solidarity demonstrated by the summit shows that “cross-strait stability is high in the minds of lawmakers around the world, from all sides of the political spectrum,” he said.

Meanwhile, sources said the IPAC has expressed hope that Taiwan’s opposition legislators would take part in the event after it learned they might not.

While Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Wu Chun-cheng (吳春城) has said he would attend the summit, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers had yet to give a positive response as of Saturday, they said.

The IPAC has not granted Taiwan membership, as it requires joint participation by the ruling and opposition parties, DPP Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said on Saturday.

The KMT’s opting out of the event for years is because of its fear of displeasing China, he said.

The opposition lawmakers should stand by their country and honor their commitments to parliamentary diplomacy, DPP caucus secretary-general Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said.

The opposition should not take the opposite side of democracy, she added.

KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Lin Szu-ming (林思銘) on Saturday said he did not receive any invitation from the IPAC.

KMT Legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯) also said her office had not received an IPAC invitation to the summit.

Additional reporting by Liu Wan-lin,

Chen Cheng-yu and Li Wen-hsin