Minister protests ADB’s ‘Taipei,China’ designation

Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) protested against Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) designation of Taiwan as “Taipei,China,” at the bank’s 57th annual meeting, a ministry official who was part of Taiwan’s delegation said.

The ADB’s annual meeting was held in Tbilisi, Georgia from Thursday last week to Sunday.

Chuang, who attended the annual meeting for the second time since assuming the post in January last year, voiced Taiwan’s disagreement over the bank unilaterally changing the nation’s designation, and asked the ADB to correct Taiwan’s name at the regional bank, the official said.

Established in 1966, the ADB is owned by 68 members, with 49 from the region.

Taiwan was one of the bank’s founding members, but it has been called “Taipei,China” (space after the comma deliberately omitted) since 1986, a designation given after China joined the bank.

Chuang, who is to continue as minister of finance after president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, also serves as an ADB board governor.

As an ADB member country, Taiwan has tried to fulfill its obligation and carry out its responsibilities, calling on all member countries at the bank to respect each other and allow Taiwan to participate in the bank’s activities on an equal footing, Chuang said.

In her speech at the ADB meeting, the theme of which was “Bridge to the Future,” Chuang also focused on climate change, as the Asia Pacific region faces pressing challenges from climate change, a ministry official said.

In November last year, the ADB launched its Climate Change Action Plan 2023-2030 in which the bank set out a new operating model.

At a time when the ADB has reformed and positioned itself as the climate bank for the Asia Pacific region, climate finance has become one of the most important issues at the multilateral bank, Chuang said.

Taiwan will support the bank’s financial management reforms to allow the bank to extend more lending to member nations that need it, to help address the impact of climate change, she added.

The Asian Development Fund of the ADB, which provides grants to the bank’s lower-income developing member countries, is replenished every four years and includes this year.

Taiwan would provide support to the ADB in extending assistance to the so-called Small Island Developing States, a group of developing countries which are small island countries and tend to share similar sustainable development challenges, Chuang said.

Taiwan has provided US$1.55 billion in capital subscription to the bank, and also contributed and committed US$133.43 million to ADB special funds since becoming a member, the Manila-based ADB said in a publication released last month on its Web site.

The ADB should place more emphasis on improving the poor quality of infrastructure in the Pacific islands, Chuang said.

Taiwan is willing to share its experience with ADB member nations on other issues, including gender equality and female empowerment, she said.