Taiwan and China One China Issue

Mary Ward-Callan

IEEE Managing Director of Technical ActivitiesPrepared for

POCO Seattle, July 24-25 2008

Current Concerns

Conferences being held in China are being asked to – Make changes to web pages with respect to the

representation of Taiwan– Make a statement indicating support of a one china policy

Licensing process in China seems to be taking place rather close to the registration process where options are limited

General understanding about doing business in China is not well communicated

Sensitivities are frequently raised about the representation of Taiwan in our business systems and tools. – Most recent questions were around registration systems

Conference Summary This issue has not impacted a large number of conference– Only a few 2008 Conferences have had a problem

– Over 50 conferences being held in China for 2008

– No conferences have been cancelled because of this issue

– Conferences were required to make changes to prevent canceling, mostly web labeling (Conferences have implemented temporary changes)

More recent requests have prompted conferences to provide a “One China” policy statement– Change could be related to the Olympics and Taiwan Presidential Election

in March

No audit of conferences has been done to determine extent of the problem.

Representation of Taiwan in Registration Tools In 2004, IEEE decisions were made in the conference business to use Taiwan, not Taiwan, POCMCM Registration systems– Vendor controls the drop-down list of countries. The list uses Taiwan, Province of

China – Inconsistent handling within IEEE

Conference Management Registration(CMR) Team has been manually overriding the listing, by changing “Taiwan, Province of China” to “Taiwan”. This change needs to be done for each registration instance.

Meeting Planning Team was not changing the list. Therefore if MPS outsourced the creation to CMR, it was changed. Otherwise not changed.

– Solution Merged teams in December and began cross training. Now both groups are

cross training As of June 11, Sections Congress and Meeting Series sites were changed Systematically reviewing all live meeting registration sites and correcting as

needed. Working with our technical staff to determine if an automatic adjustment can be

done to eliminate the manual efforts

What are others doing ?

Organization Taiwan, China

Taiwan, POC

Taiwan Chinese Taipei

ASME X X

ACM X

IET X

IEEE X

World Bank X

World Health Org X

International Olympic Committee

X

World Trade Org X

What are others doing ?

Organization Taiwan, China

Taiwan, POC

Taiwan Chinese Taipei/

Chinese Taiwan

IBM X

GE X

Motorola X

China Mobile X

Purdue University X X

New Zealand Govt X

ISO X

UN Code of Trade X

Chinese Framework for International Conferences

Two Types of International Conferences– International Conference

– Important International Conference

Two subcategories– Social

– Science and Technology (S&T)

Metrics revolve around foreign attendance and total attendance

Several special caveats– Foreign NfP groups cannot host conferences in China, so they need

local hosting

Chinese Framework for International Conferences

According to Chinese regulation, every international conference held in China needs to acquire a license (This is likely to be the most intricate part of holding a conference in China.) – Recommend that conference get license early, prior to

contracting with the hotel. – Use local host to address licensing

The regulation for international conference and license application process varies a little among different ministries; the definition of “International Conference” and “Important International Conference” also varies according with different political timing. If an IEEE Society wants to hold an conference in China, they can feel free to consult with IEEE’s China Office by n.hua@ieee.org

Local Host Options for IEEE Activities

A university under the Ministry of Education

An institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences

An organization under the Chinese Association for Science and Technology or its supervision ministry, such as Ministry of Industry and Information

A company under its supervision ministry, such as Ministry of Industry and Information

In some rare cases, government administrations or agencies

Licensing“Two-level” approval system for international conference license application. – Ministry level, depends on local host affiliation but options are:

Ministry of Education, Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Industry and Information, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Association for Science and

Technology

– State Council level (likely to involve other ,Ministries than approved above, e.g. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. )

In addition, if a conference has exhibition that is over 1,000 square meters, the ministry will also report to China Customs. If a conference is not held in Beijing, depending on its venue, it is also required to get approval from provincial government.Cross Ministry communications may also be necessary

Chinese Framework for International Conferences

Field Foreign attendees

Total attendees

License approvals

International Conference

Social <100 < 400 Ministry and Province*

S&T <300 <800 Ministry and Province*

* If outside Beijing

Chinese Framework for Important International Conferences

Specification License approvals

Conference or ad-hoc meeting under the system of United Nation Ministry .State, Province*

Outside the system of United Nation, conference or ad-hoc meeting among national governments, or conference held by important non-government organizations (note: In Chinese term, IEEE is not important non-government organization)

Ministry .State, Province*

Conference related with Chinese core interests, Chinese sensitive issues, and important international issues

Ministry .State, Province*

Conference which is going to invite Chinese leader to attend. (The definition of Chinese Leader is the member of Chinese Communist Party Central Committee)

Ministry .State, Province*

In social field, the number of foreign attendees is above 100, or the total number of attendees is above 400; In science and technology field, the number of foreign attendees is above 300, or the total number of attendees is above 800

Ministry .State, Province*

* If outside Beijing

Required Ministry Reporting

Ministry of Foreign Affairs reporting for– Regardless of the number of attendees, if conference is

related to sensitive issues, ideology issues, or conference invites sensitive attendees (including congressman from western countries)

– Conference with attendees such as foreign ambassadors or foreign embassy officials from sensitive countries, or foreign embassy officials during a sensitive time

– Conference attendees who are foreign media and reporters– Conference topics related to Taiwan, or with sensitive

Taiwan attendeesMost IEEE conference should not encounter any of these situations

License Application Document Information Information– International Conference Overview

Name of the conference (Chinese and English) Date and Location Host, organizer and co-host The scale of the conference, scope, number of attendees, number of foreign

attendees Origin of the conference, background, the reason to hold Topics and main content Mission and purpose of the conference List of foreign attendees Whether to invite Chinese leader or foreign leader to attend The introduction of the international organization (IEEE and Society Introduction) Taiwan Issue and other sensitive issue, and the policy to deal with the issue

– List of foreign attendees, including name, nationality, birth date, affiliation, contact information

– Budget

Local host needs to help complete this. Beijing Office can assist. (contact n.hua@ieee.org)

Taiwan is a sensitive topic in China

the People’s Republic of China (PRC) believes Taiwan is part of P.R.C,

Taiwan government does not agree. They prefer Republic of China.

P.R.C administration requires foreign government, organizations, companies, and conferences held in China to follow strictly the “One China” policy.

Recommendations to Conference Organizers

Conference volunteers are NOT authorized to sign a position statement dealing with One China policy

Licenses are required. Risk needs to be managed

– License should be sought prior to contracting a hotel

– Use your local host to help navigate the paperwork

– IEEE Beijing Office can assist if needed

Interpretation of the policies in this matter

It is the policy of IEEE to abide by all the legal requirements for doing business in every country in which it operates.

Conference organizers are sometimes presented with demands by host countries to

indicate organizational support for various national policies. Such an endorsement would constitute adoption of a position statement, approval of which is regulated by IEEE Policy 15 (sections 15.1-15.8), which specifies the procedures for review and approval of position statements.

If the national policy in question concerns a subject that is not within the scope and

purposes of IEEE, as outlined in our governing documents as a non-profit, educational organization, then it is not an appropriate subject on which a position should be taken. In that instance, no conference organizer, IEEE volunteer or staff member should sign such a statement, and IEEE or its organizational units should not ratify or endorse such a statement.

Decisions on whether to hold conference in a particular location should be made with full awareness of the risks associated with that location. The need for contingency plans should be evaluated.

For advice, contact: IEEE CONFERENCE SERVICES