(Bloomberg) -- Taiwan said it’s having difficulty sending staff to its representative office in Macau because the special administrative region’s government is demanding that they sign a commitment to the “One China Principle” to get a visa.
A Taiwan official who was set to be posted to the Macau, which China resumed sovereignty over in 1999, couldn’t get a visa, Liang Wen-chieh, deputy head of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, said at a briefing on Thursday. He urged Macau to remove the obstacle and deal with the issue in a friendly manner, but added that Taiwan will “prepare for the worst,” without elaborating.
At issue is Macau’s demand that Taiwan officials commit to the “One China Principle” which states that there is only one China, ruled by the Beijing-based Communist government, and that Taiwan is an inalienable part of the country. That position is anathema to Taiwan, a democratic and self-ruled island, which argues it has the right of self-determination and that it has never been under the sovereignty of the People’s Republic of China.
The dispute echoes a similar spat that led to Taiwan recalling seven representative officials from Hong Kong in 2021, leaving only local Hong Kong employees to handle affairs in the city. It also underscores China’s efforts to undermine international recognition of Taiwan, where President Lai Ching-te this week called for democracies around the world to stand up to Beijing.
At present, there are just two Taiwanese staff remaining in the Macau office, meaning Taiwan has to remotely assist with consular services, Liang said.
Macau and Hong Kong have both closed their representative offices in Taipei in 2021. That move came amid souring cross-strait relations and claims that Taiwan was interfering in Hong Kong affairs.
Relations between China and Taiwan have worsened over the past decade, with Beijing stepping up pressure on the island after Lai was elected in January to succeed Tsai Ing-wen, also of the Democratic Progressive Party. After a deadly boat incident in February, China’s coast guard started to “normalize” patrols near Taiwan’s offshore islands near China.
China also held large-scale military drills around Taiwan a few days after Lai took office in May, and then fleshed out a law targeting supporters of Taiwan independence in June. In response to this, Taiwan raised its travel alert for China in late June, urging its citizens to avoid non-essential trips.
But there has been some progress. Beijing and Taipei on July 30 agreed to resolve the boat incident. And separately, Taiwan’s United Daily News reported on Friday that a Taiwanese angler held by China in another incident will return to Taiwan on Aug 7.
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