cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/54037304

The best way to counter Beijing’s attempts to shrink Taiwan’s international space is by demonstrating the world’s openness to Taiwan and that Taiwanese are welcome to participate in all kinds of activities, Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) co-founder and executive director Luke de Pulford said.

[…]

Beijing is trying to restrict Taiwan’s international space, aiming its efforts not only at the government, but also at the Taiwanese people, he said.

Citing the abrupt cancelation of RightsCon — a global digital human rights conference originally scheduled to be held in Zambia early last month — as an example, de Pulford said no Taiwanese government officials were scheduled to attend the event.

While only Taiwanese civil society members had planned to participate, the event was still canceled under pressure from Beijing, he said.

The best way to counter Chinese pressure is to show that the world remains open to Taiwan, signaling a clear welcome for Taiwanese to participate in all kinds of events, de Pulford said, adding that gradual exclusion of Taiwanese from international conferences and the silencing of their voices cannot be tolerated.

[…]

The IPAC is an international organization composed of parliamentarians worldwide, and official admission into the alliance requires co-chairs from different political factions, so Taiwan could not join before 2024 as the opposition KMT and TPP had been unwilling to participate.

While goodwill has long been lacking between IPAC and the KMT, the group remains open to engaging with the party, de Pulford said.