Taiwan thanks 8 allies for their support at annual Interpol meeting

Taipei, Dec. 9 (CNA) Taiwan thanked eight of its formal diplomatic allies on Tuesday for supporting its aspirations to participate in the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) during the agency's annual meeting in Morocco late last month.

Senior officials from eight diplomatic allies -- the Marshall Islands, Belize, Saint Christopher and Nevis, Guatemala, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Paraguay, and Eswatini -- spoke up on Taiwan's behalf at Interpol's General Assembly Nov. 24-27, and/or sent letters to Interpol, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said.

Despite their appeals, Taiwan was still left out of the proceedings, as has been the case since the 1980s.

The Foreign Ministry delayed publicly thanking these allies until now because the assembly, which Taiwan representatives could not attend, was held in a closed-door format, and it needed time to collect information on their respective addresses, MOFA said.

It eventually posted a video clip of representatives of six allies who spoke up for Taiwan's inclusion during the just-concluded assembly.

In the two-minute-clip, Paraguay Internal Security Vice Minister Oscar Pereira, Saint Christopher and Nevis Police Commissioner James Sutton, and Eswatini National Police Commissioner Manoma Vusi Masango, all said they backed Taiwan's participation in the international police organization.

Pereira said Paraguay understood that "the best form of combating all kinds of crimes, domestic and transnational, is to combine forces and reinforce cooperative links."

"In this sense, the Republic of Paraguay backs Taiwan's request to be incorporated into the Interpol system," he said.

Sutton praised Taiwan for demonstrating "professionalism, advanced investigative capabilities, and a strong commitment to international security."

"Their participation would make the global law enforcement network stronger, more complete, and more effective," he said.

Masango, meanwhile, said Taiwan's exclusion from Interpol has meant that it has no access to Interpol's "critical databases due to political reasons, a gap that undermines global security."

Others who spoke in the MOFA clip were St. Lucia Home Affairs, Crime Prevention and Persons with Disabilities Minister Jeremiah Norbert, Belize Deputy Police Commissioner Bartholomew Jones, and Marshall Islands Justice Minister Wisely Zackhras.

Taiwan was a member of Interpol from 1964 until 1984 when the organization terminated its membership in order to welcome the People's Republic of China (PRC).

Interpol has since taken the stance that by recognizing the PRC as the sole representative of China, it implicitly recognized Taiwan as part of China.

"And as China is a member of Interpol, Interpol cannot grant Taiwan observer status in the General Assembly," according to the Interpol General Secretariat.