The government has reached out to the founding members of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in the hopes that they can speak out on Taiwan’s behalf. That’s the word from Vice Foreign Minister Vanessa Shih on Monday.
Shih was giving a report at the legislature on Taiwan’s bid to join the China-led development fund.
She told lawmakers that although China had turned down Taiwan’s application to become a founding member, the government has asked other countries to support Taiwan’s bid to participate as a regular member.
China considers Taiwan part of its territory and regularly blocks it from joining international organizations. Chinese officials have said that the reason why Taiwan was not selected as a founding member of the AIIB is because it is not an independent sovereignty.
Taiwan’s finance minister, Chang Sheng-ford, responded on Monday, saying that Taiwan is, in fact, an independent sovereignty and that the government will lodge a protest against China.