Taiwan Photo: Pixabay

The separatist Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities on the island of Taiwan protested against an international organization that listed the island in "China," and urged a separate category of Chinese Taipei, but analysts noted such self-deception will not change the fact that it is an inalienable part of Chinese territory. 

Six cities on the Taiwan island, including Kaohsiung, are members of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, a coalition to address climate change that was founded in 2016. Kaohsiung's new mayor Chen Chi-mai, together with other mayors, asked the organization not to list Taiwan as part of China, claiming that was degrading to the island.

The Global Times found that the six cities are now listed on the organization's website under Chinese Taipei. The Hong Kong Special Administration is also a member. No Chinese mainland city has joined the coalition. 

The organization told the Global Times that the classification of the six cities was a "technical error" that occurred during a recent database update, and it has since been "fixed."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Monday stressed that there is only one China and the island of Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. 

The "Taiwan region must abide by the one-China principle when it participates in international organizations," Wang said. 

The change was hailed by Taiwan and some biased Western media as a big success in seeking a secessionist presence for the island, but analysts said that the DPP should not deceive itself, because the one-China principle has been widely recognized in the international community. 

The DPP thought it had underscored its presence worldwide, but Chinese Taipei was actually used within the framework of the one-China principle, Lü Cuncheng, a research fellow at the Institute of Taiwan Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, told the Global Times on Monday. 

"Its self-deceiving success actually reinforces global recognition of the principle," Lü said. 

There are numerous nongovernmental, region-region organizations, and the Taiwan island could be representative of a Chinese region in these groups. For Taiwan compatriots' sake, the Chinese mainland practices goodwill and does not oppose Taiwan's communication with other parts of the world in economic and cultural affairs, Lü said, noting "The bottom line is no organization could refer to Taiwan as a sovereign country or violate the one-China principle."

Birdlife International, a global bird conservation organization, recently removed a Taiwan organization from its partner list as the latter refused to sign a document promising that it would not promote or advocate the secession of Taiwan from China.