Taipei, May 6 (CNA) Finance Minister Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) has protested the designation used for the Republic of China, Taiwan's official name, at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) while attending the bank's annual meeting, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said Saturday.
An MOF official with Chuang's delegation at the ADB meeting in Incheon, South Korea, told CNA by phone that Chuang repeated Taiwan's demand to correct the name and voiced "our disagreement over the unilateral alteration of our membership designation."
Established in 1966, the ADB is owned by 68 members, with 49 from the region. Chuang currently serves as an ADB board governor.
Taiwan was one of the bank's founding members, but it has been called "Taipei,China" (space after the comma deliberately omitted) since 1986, a designation given after the People's Republic of China joined the bank.
The MOF said Chuang protested the designation during her speech while noting that Taiwan has fulfilled its obligations and responsibilities as a member of the bank.
She urged all ADB member nations to respect each other and allow Taiwan to participate in the bank's activities on an equal footing.
On its website, the Manila-headquartered ADB said Taiwan has provided US$1.54 billion in capital to the ADB as of Dec. 31, 2022 and has also contributed and committed US$133.43 million to ADB's special funds since becoming a member.
To date, the ADB said, a total of 1,102 goods, works, and related services contracts worth US$1.51 billion and 83 consulting contracts valued at US$49.67 million have been awarded to contractors, suppliers, and consultants from "Taipei,China," according to the ADB.
The ADB annual meeting was held from Tuesday through Friday under the theme of "Rebounding Asia: Recover, Reconnect and Reform."
In the phone conversation, the MOF official said Chuang focused her remarks at the annual meeting on a range of topics, in particular climate change, regional cooperation and gender equality.
The official said Chuang urged the ADB to take stronger and more effective actions to build climate resilience for environmentally vulnerable developing member countries (DMCs) such as small island developing states.
Chuang also stressed the importance of strengthening domestic resource mobilization among DMCs to fundamentally improve their capacity to collect taxes and other revenues to provide better public services and economic support, the official said.
In terms of gender equality, Chuang said Taiwan has been ahead of its peers on the issue and was willing to share its experience in this field with its partners.
After the ADB meeting, Chuang and Chu Mei-lie (朱美麗), deputy governor of Taiwan's central bank, are headed to the 63rd annual governors meeting of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), being held May 11-13 in the Dominican Republic.
Chuang will participate in her capacity of governor at the CABEI, the MOF said.
Taiwan joined the CABEI in 1992 under its official name of the Republic of China (Taiwan) as a non-regional member, holding an 11.09 percent stake in the bank, the highest among the body's seven non-regional members.
