
Two members of the North Macedonian parliament have come under pressure from the Republic of China to persuade them not to attend the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance for China (IPAC) summit to be held in Taipei, Taiwan.
At issue are Antonio Miloshoski of VMRO-DPMNE in power and Fatmir Bytyqi of the opposition SDSM.
“I’m Wu, from the Chinese embassy. “We have heard that you have received an invitation from IPAC asking if you will attend the conference to be held in Taiwan next week,” reads the message Miloshoski received, obtained by the Associated Press agency.
According to reports, in addition to the two MPs from North Macedonia, the same orders from Chinese diplomats were also sent to six other MPs from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovakia, Bolivia, Colombia and other countries. According to them, in some cases there were strange questions about travel to Taiwan, in other cases the tone of the order was more threatening.
Some of the MPs noted that the Chinese diplomats had also contacted the leaders of their parties to put additional pressure on them.
“They contacted the president of my political party and asked him to stop me from traveling to Taiwan,” revealed Sanela Klarić, a member of parliament in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The case brought back memories of the threats and intimidation she was subjected to during the Bosnia and Herzegovina war in the 1990s. “I hate the feeling of being intimidated,” she said. She stated that the pressure put on her was unpleasant, but that the threat only strengthened her resolve to go to Taiwan.
One of the methods used is to send individual invitations to China to MPs who have confirmed their participation in the IPAC, just to avoid a trip to Taiwan. These invitations were particularly targeted at MEPs from EU member states.
IPAC Director Luke de Pulford described the Chinese pressure as “brutal interference”. In a statement to AP, he said that MEPs from smaller countries had been targeted.
“Perhaps Beijing felt it could succeed with them, but the pressure tactics have only made participants more determined to attend the summit,” De Pulford said.
IPAC has long been under pressure from the Chinese authorities. Some members have been sanctioned by Beijing, and in 2021 the company’s website was the target of attacks by Chinese hackers backed by the Beijing government.
Beijing is known for its efforts to curb visiting politicians to Taiwan, which China claims as its territory, and the fact that the IPAC summit is being held in Taiwan for the first time has mobilized Chinese diplomacy even more.
Despite pressure from China, IPAC announced that it would hold its fourth annual summit in Taipei on July 30 and 31, bringing together 48 lawmakers from 24 countries in five.
According to IPAC, the stability of global strategic issues will be high on the agenda of the summit, which will also be attended by Taiwanese officials. “It will be the largest parliamentary delegation to visit Taiwan in an institutional capacity,” IPAC said.
IPAC was founded in 2020 and has over 250 members from 35 parliaments and the European Parliament. It is an international, cross-party alliance of parliamentarians from democratic countries with a focus on relations with the People’s Republic of China. Its purpose is to create a coordinated response to China on global trade, security and human rights issues. /The Geopost