Taiwan's exclusion from Interpol is political: US, Germany

Taipei, Oct. 17 (CNA) The representative offices of the United States and Germany in Taiwan on Thursday lamented the country's exclusion from the ongoing general assembly of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) for political reasons.

Interpol is holding its 88th General Assembly in Chile from Oct. 15-18. Taiwan, which has been actively sought to attend such gatherings since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was elected in 2016, was again denied the right to attend.

AIT, the German Institute Taipei and the Australian Office Taipei commented on the issue through Facebook posts Thursday.

The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) pointed out that Taiwan's exclusion is purely political and doing so prevents Taiwan from contributing to and accessing resources Interpol makes available to prevent crime and terrorism around the world.

"Taiwan is an excellent law enforcement partner for the United States and many other countries around the world," AIT further said.

The German Institute Taipei said it "regrets very much" that Taiwan is once again barred from attending the Interpol gathering as an observer as well as from accessing Interpol resources.

"Politicizing law enforcement only creates blank spots and helps criminals," the German Institute Taipei said.

Meanwhile, the Australian Office Taipei welcomed Taiwan's contributions to global law enforcement and acknowledged that combating transnational crime requires the cooperation of all active members of the global law enforcement community.

The Republic of China, the official name of Taiwan, joined Interpol in 1961, but was forced to withdraw due to the arrival of China in 1984. Interpol has since denied Taiwan the right to participate, citing a resolution accepting China as a member that was passed at the 53rd General Assembly in the same year.

Taiwan's government has reiterated several times that anti-crime efforts are hampered not only in Taiwan but also globally, because Taiwanese law enforcement agencies cannot access nor contribute to Interpol's crime-related mechanisms, creating gaps in international crime-fighting efforts.