Finance minister protests name Taiwan has had at ADB since 1986

Taipei, May 5 (CNA) Finance Minister Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) has protested Taiwan's designation at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and called for the country's equal treatment in the organization, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement Tuesday.

As an ADB board member, Chuang issued a statement at the ADB's 59th annual meeting being held in Uzbekistan from May 3 to 6 to protest the "Taipei,China" designation used for Taiwan at the meeting, the same name used by the ADB since 1986.

Though the Republic of China (Taiwan) was one of the founding members of the ADB in 1966, its designation was changed to "Taipei,China" (space after the comma deliberately omitted) in 1986, after the People's Republic of China joined the bank.

The MOF said Chuang also conveyed her opposition to the change of Taiwan's designation when she met with ADB President Masato Kanda.

The MOF said as one of the founding members of the ADB, Taiwan has fulfilled its obligations and carried out its duties, and it urged the bank and its members to respect each other and ensure the equal treatment of each member at the organization.

It was the third time that Chuang had protested Taiwan's designation since she assumed the post at the end of January 2023.

In her statement at the ADB, Chuang recognized Kanda's measures to reshape the bank.

She said she supported the bank's efforts to optimize purchasing rules and raise assistance to the so-called Small Island Developing States (SIDS), a group of small island developing countries that tend to share similar sustainable development challenges.

Chuang also expressed her interest in promoting domestic resource allocation to strengthen the fiscal resilience and autonomy of developing member states and optimize their tax systems and policies to achieve sustainable development.

The ADB's membership has grown from 31 at its founding to 69 today, with 50 members from within Asia and the Pacific and 19 from outside, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Israel.

In a publication released in April on its website, the Manila-based ADB said Taiwan had provided US$1.58 billion in capital subscriptions to the bank as of December 2025, and also contributed and committed US$146.09 million to ADB special funds since becoming a member.