Geneva (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Taiwan’s delegation yesterday blocked the appointment of a mainland judge to the highest judicial body in the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Taiwan lodged its objection citing fears of bias by the candidate, Zheng Yuejiao. Mr Zhang was among four candidates (the others are from the United States, Japan and the European Union) nominated to the WTO's seven-member Appellate Body in June.
If she is appointed, she would be China's first judge on the body, which rules on trade disputes between WTO member states.
A selection committee had circulated the names of all four nominees to WTO members earlier in the month. But Monday was “the first formal opportunity for them [Taiwan] to object,” an anonymous WTO official said. This forced the meeting's chairman to adjourn the talks.
Beijing regards the island of Taiwan as a renegade province since Mao’s forces drove Chang Kai-shek’s nationalist armies out of the mainland at the end of the civil war in 1949.
China has consistently blocked Taiwanese attempts to join United Nations bodies, but has made an exception for economic organisations such as the WTO given Taiwan’s place in the world economy.