TAIPEI (TVBS News) — The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA, 外交部) announced on Thursday (Nov. 14) that the Peruvian hosts of the APEC summit have corrected an error in official documents that referred to Taiwan as "China Taipei" instead of "Chinese Taipei."
The correction comes after suspicions of pressure from China. According to MOFA, Peru's national news agency and other media outlets now use the correct term, "Chinese Taipei." The APEC summit, which began on Nov. 10 in Peru, has long seen Taiwan participate under the name "Chinese Taipei" (中華台北). However, the official letter sent to the media on Thursday mistakenly labeled Taiwan "China Taipei."
The letter, written in Spanish, invited the media to interview economic leaders arriving in Lima, including Taiwan's representative Lin Hsin-i (林信義), Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and Thailand's Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra.
Media outlets noticed the error in the letter introducing Taiwan's representative and in the registration form's title, which also displayed "China Taipei." However, the option for the media to select the economic body still showed "Chinese Taipei."
Chen Shi-tang (陳世堂), president of the Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce in Peru (秘魯台灣商會), noted that on Tuesday, Peruvian media reports still used "Taiwan." Still, by Wednesday, they had switched to "China Taipei," again suggesting possible Chinese influence.
