Taiwan expands ban on officials attending China's Straits Forum

Taipei, June 7 (CNA) Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has said that central and local government officials will be barred from attending the annual Straits Forum in China later this month, expanding a ban that previously applied only to central government personnel.

The 18th forum will be held in Xiamen, Fujian Province, in mid-June, with its main conference scheduled for June 13 under the theme "Expanding people-to-people exchanges and deepening integrated development," according to China's Taiwan Affairs Office.

The forum is a "Chinese Communist Party (CCP) united front platform" aimed at Taiwan, MAC deputy head and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a regular news briefing in Taipei on Thursday.

The Taiwanese government has therefore adopted measures to counter "the CCP's use of cross-strait exchanges to conduct united front infiltration into Taiwanese society," he added.

Under one of the measures, personnel from central government agencies and local governments are prohibited from attending the forum and related activities, Liang said.

The MAC issued a similar position on the Straits Forum last year, barring central government personnel from taking part in related activities in any form, while only "advising local government personnel not to attend."

Extending the ban to local government personnel indicates that Taiwan's government has decided to take a tougher stance.

Legal basis

Asked about the legal basis for the expanded ban, Liang said public officials and civil servants in Taiwan are required to obtain government approval before traveling to China.

"Therefore, any application that comes to us seeking approval to travel to China to attend the Straits Forum will be rejected," he said.

However, Article 9 of the Cross-Strait Act, stipulates only that certain categories of people, including county magistrates, city mayors, and those whose work involves national security, must obtain approval from a review committee formed by agencies such as the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) and MAC before entering China.

It also states that "civil servants of Grade 10 Selected Appointment Rank and below, and police and prison officers of Grade 4 ranking and below, whose duties and responsibilities do not involve national security or interests or confidential matters, are not subject to such requirement."

Currently, those lower-ranking civil servants and police officers are only required to get approval from their own agencies before traveling to China, rather than seek approval from the central review committee, according to guidelines available on the MOI's website.

That exception raises the question of whether lower-ranking local government civil servants and police officers traveling to China -- including to attend the Straits Forum -- still only need to apply to their own agencies, rather than obtain approval from the central review committee, following the announcement of the ban.

The MAC did not directly answer CNA's question on Saturday, saying only that the issue had already been addressed in its press materials and at its Thursday news briefing, and that it had no further comment at this time.

As a result, the status of "civil servants of Grade 10 Selected Appointment Rank and below, and police and prison officers of Grade 4 ranking and below" remains unclear as does whether the central government has the legal authority to ban them from traveling.

Rejected and warned

Some local government officials, such as Taitung County Magistrate Yao Ching-ling (饒慶鈴), have already filed applications to travel to China for the forum, but their applications will not be approved under the new policy, Liang said at Thursday's news briefing.

Yao said Friday that it was "a bit regrettable," adding that she had long seen herself as a platform connecting local communities, the central government and the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.

A member of the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT), Yao also said she had been invited by the forum's organizers to attend this year's event.

Meanwhile, KMT Vice Chairman Chang Jung-kung (張榮恭) is expected to lead a KMT delegation to attend the forum.

Liang said KMT members are not among the categories regulated by the government, but urged political parties and members of the public "not to echo the CCP's narrative on Taiwan or become tools of its united front work."