A delegation from the Standing Committee of the Guangzhou Municipal People's Congress has canceled a planned visit to the Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City in protest over the Taiwan Pavilion at the Gwangju Biennale. The dispute is widening, with China's promotional pavilion at the Yeosu World Island Expo also running into trouble.
According to the Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City Council and other sources, the six-member delegation, which included Li Haizhou, secretary-general of the Standing Committee of the Guangzhou Municipal People's Congress, notified the city on the 3rd that it would not take part in the visit scheduled for the 6th and 7th. Guangzhou officials made clear that this was not a simple change of schedule but a boycott in protest over the Taiwan Pavilion issue at the Gwangju Biennale, according to sources. The delegation had been scheduled to pay a courtesy call on Mayor Min Hyung-bae, attend two official dinners and visit Gwangju Global Motors and the Gwangju Biennale exhibition hall.
Chinese participation in the Yeosu World Island Expo, which opens around the same time, has also been partly disrupted. Zhoushan in China's Zhejiang province had agreed to run a promotional pavilion but has since indicated it will not take part, and the organizing committee is trying to persuade it to reconsider.
The Gwangju Biennale had changed the name of the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts exhibition from the "Taiwan Pavilion" to the "NTMoFA Pavilion," then restored the original "Taiwan Pavilion" name on July 25 after protests from Taiwan.
Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Dai Bing subsequently expressed regret and concern to Mayor Min, and staff installing works at the China pavilion halted their work and withdrew. In a statement issued by its spokesperson on the 3rd, the Chinese Embassy in Seoul said the organizers had "openly allowed China's Taiwan region to use a name that does not correspond at all to its own status," adding that this "directly damages the political foundation of China-South Korea relations." The embassy also said that "although the South Korean government has stated that its position of upholding the one-China principle remains unchanged, a very small number of South Korean politicians and civic groups are touching China's red line on the Taiwan issue."
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun issued a separate statement on the night of the 3rd on the Gwangju Biennale Taiwan Pavilion controversy, saying that China's Taiwan region had been "allowed to take part under a name that does not correspond at all to its status" and that this "seriously violates the one-China principle." He added that China "firmly opposes this and has lodged solemn representations with the South Korean side," stressing that Beijing had "demanded that the relevant institutions immediately correct their wrongful conduct."
The Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City and the Gwangju Biennale Foundation have reaffirmed their position of respecting the one-China principle, apologized for procedural shortcomings and said they would put measures in place to prevent a recurrence.
