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Taiwan / AFP
Taiwan said on Tuesday it would protest to Beijing and Belgium after its delegation was barred at a global industry conference in Brussels due to complaints from China.
It is the latest bout of diplomatic sparring between Taiwan and China as tensions simmer ahead of the inauguration of Taiwan’s president-elect, Tsai Ing-wen, in May.
Beijing does not trust Tsai’s historically pro-independence party and ties are predicted to deteriorate.
Although it is self-ruling, Beijing considers Taiwan a province awaiting reunification since the two sides split after a civil war on the mainland in 1949.
Taiwanese officials attending the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) steel symposium in Brussels were barred from a meeting Monday after China complained to Belgium they were not sufficiently high-ranking, Taiwan’s economic ministry said.