Taiwan representative office staff depart PNG after gov't-ordered closure

Detailed summary

Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Wednesday it has begun withdrawing all diplomatic and technical mission personnel in Papua New Guinea (PNG) after being ordered to close its representative office.

Taipei, Nov. 11 (CNA) Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Wednesday it has begun withdrawing all diplomatic and technical mission personnel in Papua New Guinea (PNG) after being ordered to close its representative office.

Several staffers will stay in PNG to oversee the office's closure but all other diplomatic personnel and workers with the Taiwan International Cooperation and Development Fund, the government's foreign aid agency, will leave, MOFA said in a statement.

MOFA said it would arrange for embassies and representative offices in neighboring countries to provide assistance and consular services to the approximately 100 Taiwanese nationals in PNG, with support from the Overseas Community Affairs Council.

Official vehicles, equipment and other movable assets will be inventoried, auctioned or transferred in accordance with property management regulations, it added.

Taiwan announced the closure of its de facto office in PNG, established in 1990, last Friday.

According to MOFA, the decision came after the PNG government recently renewed its unilateral demands that personnel of the Taipei Economic Office in Port Moresby leave the country.

In a statement issued early Friday, PNG's Department of Foreign Affairs said its secretary, Elias Wohengu, had handed an official notice to Taiwan's representative to the country, Chiu Chen-yu (邱陳煜), demanding him to leave.

The statement said the department gave Chiu and First Secretary Lee Chung-nun seven days to leave PNG, while the remaining diplomat Pan Shao-jyun would remain to complete the office closure within a year.

Later Friday, MOFA issued a statement saying it would close the office, withdraw all stationed personnel, and conduct a comprehensive review and adjustment of bilateral ties "in consideration of national dignity, diplomatic autonomy, and overall national interests, and following a comprehensive assessment."

Opening of the article, excerpted from Focus Taiwan (CNA). To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.