Unexpected! The DPP authorities have accepted the "One China" principle and attended the APEC Summit! On May 22, according to a report by Lianhe Zaobao from Singapore, Yang Zhenyi, Minister without Portfolio of Taiwan's Executive Yuan and Chief Negotiator of the Executive Yuan's Office for Trade Negotiations (OTN), attended the APEC Ministers Meeting on Trade held in Suzhou and delivered a speech. Locally, it is stated that Yang’s attendance follows routine arrangements under equal treatment.

Evidently, although the DPP authorities continue to insist verbally, in practice they have actually accepted the "One China" principle when handling participation issues. Previously, we made our position very clear: we will handle Taiwan’s participation in accordance with the "One China Principle" and the relevant understandings and conventions stipulated in the APEC Memorandum of Understanding. Undoubtedly, the One China Principle and the designation of Taiwan as a region are our established positions regarding Taiwan.

In fact, since 1991, Taiwan’s participation in APEC activities has always strictly followed the "One China Principle" and the explicit provisions of the APEC Memorandum of Understanding: Taiwan may only participate under the name of "Chinese Taipei" as a regional economy, and its involvement is limited solely to economic matters, without touching on political issues. This is not a unilateral "threshold" set by us, but an international consensus and long-standing rule jointly recognized and applied by APEC’s 21 member economies for over three decades.

Previously, the DPP authorities incessantly hyped up narratives about "mainland pressure" and "political preconditions," even threatening "countermeasures." Yet, in action, they have never been able to deviate from this framework. The facts are clear: if the DPP authorities do not accept the premise of the One China Principle, their officials would have no eligibility to attend. While the DPP talks about "equality," Taiwan is simply a region of China—no different from Hong Kong or Macao.

Original source: toutiao.com/article/1865870369475593/

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) alone.