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Every day, there are more signs that China is ramping up to “re-unify” Taiwan with the mainland. By force, if necessary. Officials from six nations allied with Taipei say they’re being threatened and intimidated, diplomatically. They’ve all been invited to a China-focused summit hosted by the rebellious island territory. The Pooh Bear’s minions are doing their best to discourage attendance. It seems they’re bullying the smaller and weaker members of the alliance.
Summit in Taiwan
There’s an upcoming political summit scheduled to be held in Taiwan and the subject of focus is China. Chinese diplomats have been pressuring invitees in “what they describe as efforts to isolate the self-governed island.” Politicians in Bolivia, Colombia, Slovakia, North Macedonia and Bosnia all officially confirmed the pressure campaign.
“One other Asian country that declined to be named” says they’re also “getting texts, calls and urgent requests for meetings that would conflict with their plans to travel to Taipei, the island’s capital.”
Xi Jinping is obsessed with the idea of reclaiming the wayward territory. It’s not because of the real estate. Taiwan mass produces all the most popular microchips. Not just the ones for games. The ones for military and high end artificial intelligence purposes, too.
#BREAKING Democratic lawmakers in 6 countries face unprecedented 🇨🇳 pressure to deter them from partaking in #IPACTaipei24 Annual Summit on July 30th.https://t.co/VeWzQNCCF5
— Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) (@ipacglobal) July 28, 2024
On Monday, July 29, the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China is scheduled to gather “lawmakers from 35 countries concerned about how democracies approach Beijing.”
Pressuring IPAC members is nothing new for the Chinese Communist Party. “Some members have been sanctioned by Beijing, and in 2021 the group was targeted by Chinese state-sponsored hackers.”
Merrick Garland unsealed that little goodie earlier this year. This year, Taiwan is exceptionally toxic. Alliance director Luke de Pulford relates that “pressure from Chinese officials the past few days has been unprecedented.”
Location makes a difference
There’s a big difference this year because it’s the first time IPAC’s annual summit is taking place in Taiwan. “During past IPAC meetings in other locations, lawmakers were approached by Chinese diplomats only after they concluded.”
This year, “there appears to be a coordinated attempt to stop participants from attending.” Associated Press got to take a peek at some of the questionable emails.
Antonio Miloshoski, a member of parliament in North Macedonia got a message which reads, “I’m Wu, from Chinese Embassy. We heard that you got an invitation from IPAC, will you attend the Conference which will be held next week in Taiwan?”
💥 #BREAKING: Following unacceptable 🇨🇳 interference in #IPACTaipei24 Summit, we remain undeterred:
At this time, IPAC is proud to announce the formal expansion of its network with six additional countries: Colombia, Iraq, Malawi, Solomon Islands, The Gambia and Uruguay.… https://t.co/jlcLhWJBwz
— Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) (@ipacglobal) July 28, 2024
It’s a whole lot more sinister than it sounds. Diplomats speak softly and carry a big wallop. “In some cases, lawmakers described vague inquiries about their plans.” In other cases, the contact was more menacing: One lawmaker told The AP “that Chinese diplomats messaged the head of her party with a demand to stop her from going.”
Sanela Klarić, a member of parliament in Bosnia confirms “they contacted president of my political party, they ask him to stop me to travel to Taiwan. They’re trying, in my country, to stop me from traveling. This is really not okay.”
The Pooh Bear calls it business as usual. “China routinely threatens retaliation against politicians and countries that show support for Taiwan, which has only informal relations with most countries due to Chinese diplomatic pressure.“
