Ecuador bows to Chinese pressure, removes ‘China’ name from Taiwan commerce office

Ecuador has asked Taiwan’s de facto embassy in the country to remove “Republic of China” from its name, the Taiwanese foreign ministry revealed Tuesday, attributing it to pressure from mainland China, technically the Peoples Republic of China.

The Tiawanese flag flies in Quito.

The Ecuadorian government asked Taiwan to change the name of its “Commercial Office of the Republic of China” to “Commercial Office of Taipei,” the ministry’s spokesperson Eleanor Wang said at a press conference.

Although Taiwan protested to the South American country regarding this issue, it has changed the name of its office in Ecuador.

Last week, Taiwan complained about a campaign by China to pressure Ecuador, Nigeria, Bahrain, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates into getting the names “Republic of China” and “Taiwan” removed from its representative offices on their soil.

Ecuador, like the other countries pressured to remove the China name from Taiwan offices, has a substantial debt to China.

According to Taipei, this campaign started after Beijing persuaded Panama to cut off diplomatic ties with Taiwan, leaving it with only 20 allies, 11 of them in Latin America and the Caribbean.

So far, Dubai has also asked Taiwan to change the name of its “Commercial Office of the Republic of China” to the “Commercial Office of Taipei.”

On Jun. 14, Taiwan had to transfer its office from the Nigerian capital of Abuja to Lagos and change its name to “Commercial Office of Taipei” because of Chinese pressure.