Taiwan government officials vowed Friday to defend the island's status at the World Trade Organization (WTO) as rival China attempts to downgrade its status and have its official title changed. "As a WTO member, we have our rights and must defend our rights, including not allowing our title to be changed," government spokesman Cho Jung-tai told reporters. Due to a dispute with China over sovereignty of the self-ruled island, Taiwan joined the WTO in 2002 under the name "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu (its outlying islands)". Taiwan's permanent mission in Geneva, seat of the WTO, goes under the same name. Taiwan's representative is called ambassador, as all member representatives are. But in the past three years, China has been pressuring the WTO Secretariat to reduce Taiwan's status from "mission" to "office" and change the Taiwan representative's title from "ambassador" to "representative". As a result of the squabble, the WTO's directory has not been updated for three years. --More 2354 Local Time 2054 GMT
