Hawaii News Now
Date: June 9 , 2016
By: Jamey Keaten, Associated Press

GENEVA (AP) – A Taiwanese labor relations professor complained Wednesday to the United Nations after a study group that she has regularly led was blocked from an International Labor Organization conference in Geneva.

Li-chuan Liuhuang of Chung Cheng University wrote an open letter to ILO director-general Guy Ryder noting her group has had access to the U.N.’s Geneva offices since 2014 for the International Labor Conference, but was refused entry twice this week during the two-week session that runs through Friday.

The episode highlights concerns about where and when China might seek to block Taiwanese interests in the international arena since independence-leaning President Tsai Ing-wen took office in Taiwan last month.

U.N. officials, however, cited tighter security standards as one reason. A Chinese mission official declined to comment and deferred questions to the International Labor Organization, a U.N. agency focused on global labor standards.

China made no move to block Taiwan’s participation in last week’s World Health Assembly at the Geneva office of the United Nations. Taiwan is not a U.N. member and has formal diplomatic ties with just 22 nations as a result of China’s efforts to isolate the island that it claims as its own territory.     [FULL  STORY]