BAHRAIN CAVES TO CHINA, FORCES ROC TO CHANGE NAME|巴林強迫我代表處更名 從台灣改成台北

Bahrain under pressure from China has forced the ROC representative office in Bahrain to change its name from 'Trade Mission of Taiwan to the Kingdom of Bahrain' to 'Trade Office of Taipei to the Kingdom of Bahrain' Ministry Of Foreign Affairs expressed dissatisfaction and said that Bahrain's attitude to the one China principle was a serious breach of the commitment to the Bahraini Taiwan relationship. After the representative office in Dubai, Bahrain is the next Arab country to cave in to Chinese pressure and demand that the ROC representative office change its name to 'Trade Office of Taipei to the Kingdom of Bahrain' . The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a press release with the news and also said that Bahrain was insistent that the office changed it's name within a deadline. MOFA said it deeply regretted that Bahrain caved in to Chinese pressure and that its attitude to the one China principle had a negative impact on substantive Taiwan-Bahrain relations. The Mainland Affairs Council strongly condemned the increasingly frequent pressure put by China on Taiwan's international space. ==CHIU CHENG-CHENG MAC spokesperson== China continues to use nomenclature to maliciously exert the one China principle and refuses to acknowledge the existence of the ROC. It uses a zero sum mindset to shrink the ROC's international space. This is a negative influence on cross strait relations and the ROC government expressed strong protest and discontent at China's actions. Since the start of the year, China has exerted pressure on four countries to force the ROC to change the name of its representative offices and Nigeria even made the office leave the capital city. The ROC representative office in Kuwait is a Taipei commerce representative office, but as the name plate has the ROC national emblem on it, Kuwait demanded this to be removed and under unrelenting pressure from China, finally asked the whole office to leave. Analysts say facing this harsh diplomatic environment the government is basically humiliated. ==LIU CHANG-CHENG Asst. Lect. NCCU Arabic language dept.== Even if it downgrades to the Taipei representative office, we still have to remain. Would we pull out completely and close it down? I don't think so, we just have to bite the bullet. Liu emphasized that the government should look to economic or other aspects for breakthroughs. He called on the government to lose its traditional thinking and send suitable personnel who could embed in the culture and work hard locally for the ROC. TRANSLATED BY：CLARE LEAR 中東國家巴林，在中國施壓下，強迫我駐巴林代表處，將原有名稱台灣駐巴林商務代表團，更名為"駐巴林台北貿易辦事處"，外交部表示不滿與遺憾，強調巴林對一中原則表態，嚴重違反自身承諾，將不利台巴關係。 繼杜拜代表處後，又一個中東國家巴林，不敵中國的強勢壓力，片面強迫台灣駐巴林代表處，將原有名稱台灣駐巴林商務代表團，更改名駐巴林台北貿易辦事處，外交部發布新聞稿證實消息，並指出，巴林堅持我駐處須限期更名，對此表示深切遺憾，還提到巴林在中國壓力下，再度針對「一中原則」表態，對臺巴實質關係亦有不利影響，而面對中國頻頻打壓台灣國際外交，陸委會強力譴責。 ==陸委會發言人 邱垂正== 中國大陸持續透過各種手段 在國際間惡意操作其一中原則 拒絕面對中華民國存在的事實 以零和的思維 打壓台灣的國際空間 對兩岸關係造成極為負面的影響 我們政府強烈表達抗議與不滿 從今年年初到現在，受到中國壓力而被迫更名的外館，已有四處，其中駐奈及利亞代表處還被要求遷出首都，另外，駐科威特的代表處，雖然是台北商務代表處，但招牌上有中華民國的國徽，也頻頻遭到中國施壓，被要求移除。學者認為，面對外交困境，政府更得忍辱負重。 ==政大阿拉伯語文學系助理教授 劉長政== 就算降為台北辦事處 我們如果還能夠繼續留在那邊 我們還有機會 如果說整個都撤掉的話 我們是門整個都被關住的 所以我是覺得 外交部在這次上面 我必須要說的是 我們就要忍辱負重 劉長政強調，政府可以從經濟或其他面向突破，創造台灣的立基點，也呼籲外交部，改變傳統思維，駐外人員適其專長派任，進而深耕，以扶植當地國與我友好的勢力。 記者郭采彥 陳柏諭 台北報導