TECRO Name Change

該是改名的時候了: 駐美國台北經濟文化代表處 Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US —-> 台灣代表處

In a letter dated Oct. 13, 1994, Taiwan’s then-representative to the U.S. Benjamin Lu wrote to American Institute in Taiwan chairman Nat Bellocchi: “I take great pleasure in informing you that my government has formally approved that the name of our Washington office will be Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States.”

Two months later, on Dec. 20, Bellocchi responded, acknowledging receipt of the letter “informing [her] of the change in name of [Taiwan’s] office from the Coordination Council for North American Affairs (CCNAA) to Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO).”

Earlier, in a letter dated Oct. 3, 1990, then-U.S. Department of State executive secretary J. Stapleton Roy had written to U.S. national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, CIA acting executive secretary James Pittman and U.S. Department of Defense executive secretary Colonel John Dubia, saying: “Consistent with the unofficial nature of U.S.-Taiwan ties, the U.S. Government no longer refers to Taiwan as the ‘Republic of China’ — a term reflecting Taipei’s continuing claim to be the government of China… We refer to Taiwan simply as Taiwan.”

The U.S. has an “American Institute in Taiwan” and has passed and currently observes the “Taiwan Relations Act.”

So, why is TECRO called the “Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office” today and not the “Taiwan Economic and Cultural Representative Office?”

FAPA understands that in 1994, when Washington D.C. asked Taipei for a short list of new names to replace the oddly nondescript CCNAA misnomer, Taipei did not submit a possible new name for its representative office with the word “Taiwan” in it — despite Roy stating in 1990 that “we refer to Taiwan simply as Taiwan” in the U.S. guidelines.

The TECRO name is nondescript as well, of course, as it has the word “Taipei” in it, which creates the impression that the office only represents the capital and its residents.

It would be the equivalent of referring to the American Institute in Taiwan as the Washington D.C. Institute in Taiwan.

FAPA believes that the time is now that the U.S. start adhering to reality by changing TECRO to a name that is consistent with U.S. policy: the Taiwan Representative Office (TRO). It would set an inspiring precedent for other countries to emulate.#真相特工!