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The national emblem of the Republic of China was on the wreath representing Taiwan, and the Chinese representative thus boycotted the event and did not show up as protest. The seat arranged for the representative remained vacant throughout the ceremony.
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In memory of the 70th anniversary of V-J Day, Republic of China and Chinese ambassadors, Shen Lu-xun and Cui Tian-kai, were invited to attend the commemorating ceremony in Washington D.C. But the Chinese representative’s request to remove the ROC flag on the floral wreath presented by Taiwan was denied and the representative was absent from the event as protest.
China Times reports, the event was held at the WWII Memorial in downtown Washington D.C. and two of the representatives were invited and consented to attend. The seats and the order of delivering the wreaths to the memorial monument were all arranged beforehand.
But the memorial event saw dramatic developments.
Liberty Times reports, the national emblem of ROC was on the wreath representing Taiwan, and the Chinese representative thus boycotted the event and did not show up as protest. The seat arranged for Cui remained vacant throughout the ceremony.
According to understanding, after the Chinese diplomats discovered that the event organizers had invited both the ROC and PRC representatives, they expressed their dissatisfaction to the U.S. Department of State on a daily basis.
An American source reveals that China made three demands:
1. The words ROC or Taiwan cannot appear in the event.
2. The ROC flag cannot appear in the event.
3. The Taipei representative in the U.S., Shen Lu-xun, cannot deliver the wreath representing ROC.
The seating arrangement of the ceremony shows signs of pressure from China though it’s a quasi-official event. Shen was arranged to sit on the very left side and the Chinese representative near the middle, close to the U.S. representative. Stickers with flags, name of the country and representative were stuck to the seats, except for the seat of the ROC representative that only had a sticker with Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office printed on it.
Photo Credit: China Times
Storm Media reports, Wang Pei-ling, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, says Taiwan had not been invited to the 60th anniversary of V-J Day. This is the first time ROC representative was invited to attend after the Taiwan-US diplomatic relations were end.
Wang says, the diplomatic etiquette Shen received at the ceremony was the same as other countries. The national emblem of ROC printed on the floral wreath shows that the U.S. highlights the importance of Taiwan and is the best proof of the good relationship between Taiwan and the U.S.
CNA reports, the U.S. veterans of WWII vow to pass on the history and the fact that ROC and President Chiang Kai-shek fought against Japan. Former U.S. Senator Robert Dole who fought in the war called our representative “a friend from Taiwan,” and the U.S. veterans said to the Chinese reporters after the ceremony, “It is Chiang who led the Republic of China to fight against Japan.”
Translated by June
Edited by Olivia Yang
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