Taiwan wants to join the IMF to get financial protection from China
Taiwan is making a longshot push to join the International Monetary Fund
WASHINGTON — Taiwan, a major economy the size of Poland but absent from global organizations, is making a longshot push to join the International Monetary Fund, the 190-country organization that offers members emergency loans and other financial assistance.
“Taiwan's membership at the IMF would help boost financial resilience,” the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington said during this week's IMF and World Bank annual meetings. The office serves as Taiwan's de facto embassy in the U.S.
The push is part of a wider effort to boost the self-governed island's global status. Taiwan also is seeking to participate in the U.N. World Health Organization's annual World Health Assembly and join Interpol. The U.S. and its allies are Taiwan's supporters.
But China, which sees Taiwan as a breakaway province and threatens to annex it by force, has blocked such efforts and insists it represent Taiwan in international forums. The island is now designated as “Taiwan Province of China” in IMF literature.
In 2020, then-President Donald Trump signed legislation making it U.S. policy to advocate for Taiwan's membership or observer status in international organizations such as the IMF.
The U.S. State Department said the world “stands to benefit from Taiwan’s expertise and resources to address some of today’s most difficult global challenges.” It said it will continue to support Taiwan’s membership in international organizations where statehood is not required and encourage Taiwan’s meaningful participation in groups where its membership is not possible.
The IMF had no comment on Taiwan's efforts to gain membership. The U.S. has the biggest
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