Taiwan's Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han will attend an APEC ministerial meeting in Nanjing this month, becoming the first minister of President 
Lai Ching-te's administration to visit China. Hung has received an invitation and is due to travel there on Sept. 21 for the forum's Human Resources Development Ministerial Meeting, following APEC's established rules and format, CNA reported.
What did Beijing say? Zhang Han, a spokesperson for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, said on Sept. 2 that Beijing, as this year's APEC host, would handle Taiwan's participation under the "one China principle" and the relevant APEC memorandum of understanding. Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a May 13 statement that the memorandum Taiwan signed when it joined APEC in 1991 contains no "one China principle" wording, and that Taiwan takes part in APEC meetings and activities on an equal footing with other members.
How did the governing party respond? Wu Cheng, spokesperson for the Democratic Progressive Party, told reporters after the party's Central Standing Committee meeting that Taiwan is an official member economy of APEC and that Hung representing Taiwan was "perfectly natural." Wu said APEC has always been a very important platform for Taiwan's international participation, and that Hung's attendance was "no different from the past."
How has Taiwan taken part this year? Taiwanese officials have attended eight APEC meetings in different Chinese cities this year, CNA reported. They include the trade ministers' meeting in Suzhou in May, attended by Taiwan's then-chief trade negotiator; a finance and central bank deputies' meeting in Shanghai in February, attended by Deputy Finance Minister Juan Ching-hua; and the tourism ministers' meeting in Macau in June, attended by Tourism Administration Director-General Chen Yu-hsiu. Taiwan, which joined APEC in 1991 as "Chinese Taipei" alongside China and Hong Kong, sends officials to about 150 to 200 APEC meetings a year.
How did earlier China-hosted years go? Taiwan's participation and interaction at APEC gatherings hosted by China have been shaped by the cross-strait political climate, CNA reported. This year is China's third turn as host, after 2001 and 2014. In 2001, Beijing held back an invitation for Taiwan's planned envoy, former vice president Li Yuan-tsu, calling him a "political" rather than an "economic" representative, and Taiwan stayed away from that year's Shanghai summit in protest. In 2014, amid a cross-strait thaw, Taiwan sent Vincent Siew, who had just left the vice presidency, to the summit in Beijing. This year's leaders' summit is set for Shenzhen in November.
Figures referenced: Lai Ching-te. — JudgeMarket.
