IPAC Taipei 2024: Taiwan Joins 40-Country Strong Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China
30 July 2024 – IPAC successfully concluded its fourth Summit in Taipei. With a participation of 49 politicians from 24 countries, both in size and geographical breadth the Summit was the largest parliamentary delegation ever to visit Taiwan in a show of democratic solidarity.
The Summit concluded by formally welcoming Taiwan into the Alliance with Co-Chairs Fan Yun (Democratic Progressive Party) and Chen Gau-tzu (Taiwan People’s Party)
IPAC is a strong advocate for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organisations. Its formal inclusion in the Alliance was welcomed as a historic result by all delegates.
Earlier this week cross-party lawmakers from five more countries joined the network: Colombia, Iraq, Solomon Islands, The Gambia and Uruguay; rapidly expanding the Alliance to 40 countries across 5 continents.
Despite Beijing’s attempts to intimidate the network, IPAC is stronger than ever.
Taiwan stood front and center during the duration of the Summit with key-note speeches by President Lai Ching-te and Vice-President Hsiao Bi-khim, who stressed the need for the establishment of a “democratic umbrella” to defend Taiwan and preserve the international rules-based order.
At the Summit, IPAC members launched the 2758 Initiative, pledging to pass resolutions in their own parliaments to reject Beijing’s distortion of international law regarding Taiwan’s status.
Members also agreed to continue pressing democratic governments to recognise the importance of cross-strait stability to global security and their own economies, in line with IPAC’s existing project Operation MIST - campaigning for governments to Measure the Impact of a Shock in the Taiwan Strait. IPAC believes that the world will only take the necessary steps to deter escalation in Cross-Strait tensions when the economic catastrophe of failing to do so is laid out for all to see.
Additionally, IPAC members roundly condemned Beijing’s attempts to interfere in their Annual Summit through intimidation and pressure tactics. This global diplomatic effort to disrupt IPAC’s Summit follows disclosure by the US Department of Justice in 2024 of a 2021 PRC state-sponsored cyber-attack on the IPAC network.
These attempts highlight the need to raise a democratic umbrella not only over Taiwan, but over like-minded democracies. The network is resolved to protect our institutions and communities from the PRC’s foreign interference and transnational repression activities.
As at the three preceding IPAC Summits, lawmakers reaffirmed their commitment to defend the universal rights of all individuals in China, Hong Kong, the Uyghur Region, Tibet, as well as those facing Beijing’s long-arm repression around the world.
Other announcements included the launch of an Alumni Council to ensure the continuing contributions of retired lawmakers to the IPAC project.
- IPAC is an international parliamentary network with cross-party lawmakers from 40 countries. www.ipac.global
- Previous Summits: Rome (2021), Washington DC (2022), Prague (2023).
- Media inquiries: press@ipac.global
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