TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan’s top trade negotiator Yang Jen-ni (楊珍妮) is attending the APEC meeting of commerce ministers in the Chinese city of Suzhou, reports said Friday.
The head of the Office of Trade Negotiations and minister without portfolio was seen at the meeting representing Taiwan as “Chinese Taipei,” its usual name at APEC events, per CNA. She was heading a delegation comprising officials from the Office of Trade Negotiations and from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
As China is hosting several APEC events this year, including the leaders’ summit scheduled for Nov. 18-19 in Shenzhen, there had been fears it would try to downgrade Taiwan’s participation. Yang reportedly spoke at Friday morning’s meeting.
However, it was not clear from the pictures and footage from the event where Yang was seated, CNA reported. At a previous APEC meeting in Shanghai, the Taiwan delegation was seated between those from Singapore and Thailand, indicating it came under the letter “T” for Taiwan.
Despite having to accept the name “Chinese Taipei,” Taiwan was not placed with China and “Hong Kong, China” under the letter “C.”
