By Yi-Chin Lee and Ann Wang
TAOYUAN, Taiwan, Sept 22 (Reuters) – A Taiwanese minister returned from a rare trip by a senior official to China on Tuesday, saying he was well-treated and not “belittled” while attending a regional APEC meeting though still happy to be home.
Labour Minister Hung Sun-han was the first minister in President Lai Ching-te’s government to go to China at a time when Beijing has ramped up military and political pressure against Taipei.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group is one of the few international bodies that Chinese-claimed Taiwan is a member of.
Speaking at Taiwan’s main international airport at Taoyuan on arrival, Hung said that China fulfilled its obligations as host nation in granting Taiwan the same rights of equal treatment and dignity as any other APEC member.
“So through our efforts, we actually did not encounter any situation of being belittled in our conference participation,” he added, having been in China since Sunday for a meeting about human resources.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Taiwan takes part in APEC under the name “Chinese Taipei”, which it also uses for the Olympics.
Hung said he did not use, and had not applied for, a Taiwan compatriot permit, a Chinese government document most Taiwanese use for travel to China, instead entering using the formal invitation letter to the meeting.
China has rejected repeated offers of talks by Lai, saying he is a “separatist”, and its military operates around Taiwan on an almost daily basis. Lai says only Taiwan’s people can decide their future.
Asked how he felt about being the first senior official to go to China in a decade since Lai, or his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen, took office, Hung said: “It’s really more relaxing to return to Taiwan”.
Lower-level Taiwanese officials have attended other APEC events in China, whose government views Taiwan as a Chinese province and not a country.
Taiwan has yet to announce who will attend the November APEC leaders’ summit in Shenzhen, though its presidents never go.
(Reporting by Yi-Chin Lee and Ann Wang; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
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