Six lawmakers say Beijing is pressuring them not to attend a meeting in Taiwan
BEIJING: Lawmakers from at least six countries have said they are pressuring Chinese diplomats not to attend China-related meetings in Taiwan, in what they describe as an effort to isolate the self-governing island.
Politicians from Bolivia, Colombia, Slovakia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and an Asian country that declined to be named said they have been receiving texts, phone calls and urgent meeting requests that conflict with their travel plans to Taipei. China fiercely defends its sovereignty over Taiwan and considers it a territory it can annex by force if necessary.
The meeting begins Monday and is hosted by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), a group of hundreds of lawmakers from 35 countries who are concerned about how democracy is approaching Beijing. IPAC has long faced pressure from the Chinese government. Some of its members have been sanctioned by Beijing, and in 2021, it was targeted by Chinese state-sponsored hackers, according to a U.S. indictment unsealed earlier this year.
But Luke de Fulford, the coalition’s executive director, said the pressure from Chinese officials over the past few days had been unprecedented. At past IPAC meetings held elsewhere, Chinese diplomats have approached lawmakers only after the meeting had ended. This year, when IPAC’s annual meeting is being held in Taiwan for the first time, there appears to have been an organized effort to block attendees from attending.
The Associated Press interviewed three lawmakers and reviewed text messages and emails from Chinese diplomats asking whether they planned to attend the meeting.
“I am Wu from the Chinese Embassy,” the message read to Antonio Milošovski, a member of the North Macedonian parliament. “I heard you received an invitation from IPAC. Are you going to attend the conference in Taiwan next week?”
In some cases, lawmakers described receiving vague inquiries about travel plans to Taiwan. In other cases, the contacts were more threatening. One lawmaker told the AP that a Chinese diplomat sent a message to her party leader asking her to block her from going.
“They contacted my party leader and asked him to stop me from traveling to Taiwan,” said Sanela Klaric, a Bosnian lawmaker. “They are trying to stop me from traveling to my country… This is really not OK.”
China routinely threatens retaliation against politicians and countries that support Taiwan, and Taiwan has only unofficial relations with most countries due to diplomatic pressure from China. Clarich said the pressure was unpleasant, but it made her more determined to make the trip.
“I’m fighting against a state or a society that uses fear as a tool to manipulate and control people,” Klaric said, adding that it reminded him of the threats and intimidation he experienced during the war in Bosnia in the 1990s. “I really hate that feeling when someone makes you afraid.”
China's Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
De Fulford called this pressure “a serious foreign interference”.
“What would Chinese officials think if we were trying to tell them about their travel plans, where they can and cannot go?” de Pulford said, using the acronym for China, the country’s official name. “It’s completely absurd to think that they can interfere with the travel plans of foreign lawmakers.”
This year’s meeting is expected to be attended by lawmakers from 25 countries. Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last week, Beijing condemned Taiwan's annual Han Kuang military drills, saying the island's ruling Democratic Progressive Party was “carrying out provocations in pursuit of independence.”
“Any attempt to incite tensions, use force to seek independence or block reunification is doomed to failure,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters.
China often seizes diplomatic allies from the islands with promises of development assistance, a move that has in recent years benefited Beijing, and a long-running rivalry between the two countries. The Pacific island of Nauru switched its recognition to Beijing earlier this year, reducing Taiwan’s diplomatic allies to 12.
But China's sometimes coercive approach has alienated other countries.
In 2021, Beijing downgraded relations and blocked imports after Lithuania, an EU and NATO member, broke diplomatic protocol and agreed to name Taiwan’s representative office in the capital Vilnius “Taiwan” instead of the Chinese Taipei that other countries use to avoid offending Beijing. The following year, the EU adopted a resolution criticizing Beijing’s actions toward Taiwan and took action against China at the World Trade Organization over import restrictions.
Pressure surrounding the IPAC meeting also sparked a backlash.
Bolivian Senator Senta Lek said she filed a protest after a Chinese diplomat called her and told her not to go to Taiwan. She said Taiwan was run by a “fraudulent president” and the conference was hosted by an organization “that is not accepted under the terms of mainland China’s policies.” When Lek refused, the diplomat told her he would report her decision to her embassy, which Lek interpreted as a “veiled threat.”
“I told him that this was an unacceptable intrusion and that I would not accept any order or intrusion from any government,” Reck said. “This was a personal decision and it seemed to me that he had overstepped all international political norms.”
Most of the targeted lawmakers appear to be from smaller countries, said De Fulford, the coalition's executive director, because Beijing “thinks it's OK for them to do this.” But he added that the coercive tactics had made attendees more willing to take part in the summit.
Miriam Lexmann, a Slovakian member of the European Parliament, said Chinese diplomats had approached her party leader, and she said the pressure further underscored why she had come to Taiwan.
“We want to exchange information and ways to deal with the challenges and threats that China poses to democracies around the world, and of course, support Taiwan,” she said.
