“Democracy is about humanity’s universal values, not about territory.”
Amid China’s strong opposition to the participation of a Taiwanese official in the “3rd Democracy Summit” held in Seoul, the government clarified on the 19th that the summit was not targeting any specific countries and was held to contribute to promoting democracy and human rights.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Lim Soo-suk stated in an afternoon at a regular briefing held at the Government Complex Seoul, “We regret the biased and unilateral reports from some foreign media that do not correctly convey the facts.”
He continued, “This summit was held to strengthen and promote democracy as a universal value of humanity. Democracy is not an issue of territorial confrontation, but an issue of a humanitarian value.”
At the expert roundtable session of the Democracy Summit held the day before, Audrey Tang, Minister of Digital Affairs of Taiwan, sent a recorded video message. She participated in the 1st and 2nd meetings as well.
Related to this, Spokesperson Lim said, “The government’s position of respecting ‘One China’ has not changed,” and explained, “A related video was screened at yesterday’s expert roundtable meeting, and a wholistic view which took into account our government’s basic position and the precedents of the 1st and 2nd Democracy Summits was adopted.”
A foreign ministry official met with reporters on the day and claimed that “There was sufficient communication with related countries” in inviting Minister Tang to the Democracy Summit. However, he said, “It is difficult to disclose the specific methods or contents of our communication. It was carried out considering the precedents of the 1st and 2nd Democracy Summits.”
Regarding China’s serious reaction to this issue, the official refrained from making specific evaluations of China’s foreign ministry’s response.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Foreign Ministry strongly opposed Korea’s invitation of Minister Tang to the summit, stating, “China resolutely opposes Korea’s invitation of a Taiwanese official” and urged to “Stop providing a stage for Taiwan’s independent forces.”
State-run New China News Agency also criticized in a commentary on the 17th, saying, “Korea’s hosting of the Democracy Summit was merely playing the role of a ‘pawn’ for the United States.”
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