BEIJING (AP) — Chinese diplomats are pressuring lawmakers from at least six countries not to attend a China-focused summit in Taiwan, participants told The Associated Press.
Politicians in Bolivia, Colombia, Slovakia, North Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and another Asian country, who declined to be named, have received text messages, phone calls and urgent meeting requests that would clash with their travel plans to Taiwan, in what they say is an effort to isolate Taiwan’s autonomy.
The summit begins on Monday and is being organised by the Parliamentary Alliance on China Issues. A group of several hundred lawmakers from 35 countries They’re concerned about how democracies will approach Beijing. The Associated Press spoke to organizers and three lawmakers and reviewed text messages and emails sent by Chinese diplomats to lawmakers asking whether they planned to attend the summit.
“I’m Wu from the Chinese embassy,” read the message sent to North Macedonian member of parliament Antonio Milošovski. “I heard you received an invitation from IPAC. Would you be willing to attend their conference in Taiwan next week?”
Lawmakers say they’ve received vague inquiries about their plans to travel to Taiwan, but also more threatening contact: One lawmaker told The Associated Press that Chinese diplomats had sent a message to the leader of her own party demanding that she block the trip.
“They sent a direct message to the leader of my party to stop me from going to Taiwan,” said Sanela Kralic, a member of parliament from Bosnia and Herzegovina. “He showed me the message from them. He said, ‘We encourage you not to go, but we can’t stop you. It’s a decision you have to make.'”
China regularly threatens retaliation To politicians and countries Show your support for TaiwanDiplomatic pressure from China means the country has only informal ties with most countries, and Kraljic said the pressure was uncomfortable but also what solidified his decision to go on the trip.
“I am really fighting against a country and a society that uses fear as a tool to manipulate and control its people,” Kralic said, adding that it reminded him of the threats and intimidation he faced while suffering through the Balkan wars in the 1990s. “I really hate the feeling that someone is threatening me.”
China fiercely defends its claim to Taiwan, which Beijing considers its territory and could annex by force if necessary. Last week, Beijing criticized Taiwan for: The annual Han Guang military exercisesHe said Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party was “engaging in provocative acts in pursuit of independence.”
“Any attempt to incite tensions and use force to demand independence or reject unification is doomed to fail,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Mao Ning told reporters.
China’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Parliamentary Alliance on China, which aims to coordinate diplomacy around perceived threats from Beijing, has long faced pressure from the Chinese government. Some members have been sanctioned by Beijing, and in 2021 the group was reportedly targeted by Chinese government-backed hackers. The U.S. indictment unsealed earlier this year.
But the alliance’s president, Luke de Pulford, says the pressure from Chinese authorities in recent days is unprecedented.
At previous meetings held elsewhere, Chinese diplomats only approached lawmakers after the meetings had concluded. This year, the pressure has increased dramatically in what appears to be a coordinated attempt to block participants from attending.
“This is flagrant foreign interference. This is not normal diplomacy,” de Pulford said. “How would Chinese officials feel if we tried to tell them their travel plans, where they can and can’t go? It’s absolutely outrageous that they would think they could interfere with the travel plans of foreign lawmakers,” he added, using the initials for China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
China has frequently cut ties with Nauru, a diplomatic ally, with promises of development aid, and the long-running rivalry between the two countries has tilted in Beijing’s favor in recent years. It switched its recognition to Beijing earlier this year.This reduces the number of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies to 12.
But China’s sometimes aggressive tactics have also sparked backlash.
In 2021, Beijing downgrades ties, blocks imports from LithuaniaThe EU passed a resolution condemning Beijing’s attitude toward Taiwan after the Baltic states, both EU and NATO members, broke with diplomatic convention and agreed to name their representative office in the capital, Vilnius, Taiwan, instead of Chinese Taipei, as other countries use to avoid Beijing’s anger. took action against China at the World Trade Organization over import restrictions.
Most of the targeted lawmakers appear to be from smaller countries, possibly because Beijing “feels impunity”, Mr de Pulford said, but he added that the coercive tactics only make participants more determined to take part.
Miriam Lexmann, a Slovakian member of the European Parliament who was contacted by Chinese diplomats, said the pressure highlighted her reasons for coming to Taiwan.
“We want to exchange information and look at ways to address the challenges and threats that China poses to democracies around the world, and of course support Taiwan,” she said.
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Associated Press videojournalist Johnson Lai contributed to this report from Taipei, Taiwan.
