Wikimedia Taiwan/Declaration/The statement about China blocked Wikimedia Foundation’s accreditation to WIPO

International Edition 國際英文版

September, 23, 2020, On World Intellectual Property Organization(WIPO) General Assembly, while discussing the admission of Wikimedia Foundation as an observer of WIPO, China representative hold back the admission saying that Wikimedia Foundation’s application document was incomplete and its Taiwan chapter is dishing out political activities which could, quote: “undermine the state’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, therefore, it is not fitting for the foundation to serve as an observer to this professional organization.”

Wikimedia movement is the most influential Open Knowledge movement currently. We successfully demonstrate how open license could encourage users around the world to work together and create an enormous astonishing knowledge base. Therefore, it is invaluable to have Wikimedia Foundation to take part in the world IP issues. And the fact that our mere existence has become an excuse for a country to hold back a major global affair’s development is astonishingly ridiculous, especially for this to happen in a formal meeting of a UN organization. To clarify this issue, we, Wikimedia Taiwan’s statement is as follow:

1. We, Wikimedia Taiwan, is an independent and autonomous organization that works closely with Wikimedia Foundation:

   We, in 2007, submitted our establishment to Taiwan Government and was officially recognized by Wikimedia Foundation as a chapter obtaining the power to use its related trade mark. However, according to the Wikimedia foundations structure, our relation with Wikimedia Foundation is not an affiliation relationship but a partner. We, Wikimedia Taiwan, have nothing to do with Wikimedia Foundation’s application to WIPO.

2. Wikimedia platform shows facts from multiple points of view:

   Wikimedia is an open platform and follows our principle of neutrality, we fairly display all points of view of a controversial topic, not the point of view from any particular country or government. The “One China policy” is recorded as it should be as well as the well-known Taiwan-China relation, also the true image of Taiwan which is not under control of the CPC’s Beijing government since the very beginning.

Furthermore, one of the Wikimedia Foundation’s platforms, also one of our mainly promoting projects, Chinese Wikipedia’s content was constantly under the threat of China’s piracy and various means that violating creative commons public licensing. We, Wikimedia Taiwan, hope that if China wishes to become a responsible country on IP issues, it needs to firstly face the issue directly, and propose a solution. Not letting China become the heaven of piracy and playing politics on an international platform, blocking out people's right to participate in the discussion.

Local Edition 本地華語版

2020年9月23日，聯合國世界智慧財產權組織 (World Intellectual Property Organization，以下簡稱WIPO) 會議上，討論包括維基媒體基金會(Wikimedia Foundation，以下簡稱 WMF) 成為該組織觀察員一案。中國代表以「維基媒體基金會分會與基金會提交給大會的申請的文件內容不一致」，和「基金會旗下網站存在大量嚴重違反一個中國原則的內容和不實的信息，可能損害一國的主權和領土完整」為由，阻撓大會對WMF申請案的決議；同時，更暗示社團法人台灣維基媒體協會(以下簡稱本會)可能協助WMF進行政治操作。

維基媒體運動是目前全球最具影響力的開放知識行動。我們的成功展示了開放授權如何促成全球網路使用者合作，創造出前所未有的知識庫。因此，WMF代表維基媒體運動參與全球智慧財產權的相關事務，對全人類均有積極意義。本會之存在竟可成為特定國家拖累全球重大事務發展之藉口，並在聯合國下屬組織的正式會議中出現，實屬滑稽、荒唐。為正視聽，本會針對中國之指控說明如後：

1. 本會為獨立自治，與WMF密切合作的伙伴組織：

   本會係2007年向台灣(官方名稱：中華民國)政府依法申請成立的全國性人民團體，最高權力機關為本會會員大會；平日依本會章程設立常務理事會、理事會、監事會運作。本會與WMF有簽約成為其正式承認的分會 (Chapter) ，獲得運用WMF註冊的各項維基商標與識別的授權，以實踐推廣WMF下各項計畫的宗旨。然而依據維基媒體運動的架構，兩者為伙伴而非從屬關係。此次WMF的觀察員申請本會事前並無所知，亦無參與相關決策，遑論任何政治串謀。

2. 維基媒體平臺內容呈現實際情況與多方觀點：

   維基媒體是一個開放的知識平臺，依據其「中立觀點」方針，我們將公平呈現爭議中的各方觀點，而非特定國家的立場。維基百科中會如實記載中國的一中原則主張，以及其他廣為人知的台海關係主張，同時也會呈現台灣迄今未受中國共產黨所建立的北京政權管轄的實際情況。

最後，在維基媒體下轄網站中，做為本會平日主要推廣專案之一的中文維基百科，其內容長期遭中國網站以違反CC授權條款的方式大量重製、散佈、改作。本會認為，在參與智慧財產權國際多邊組織運作時，中國若想成為負責任之大國，應先正視相關議題，並提出解決方案。而非放任侵權內容橫行之餘，還將國際組織決議做為其政治主張之戰略高地，阻撓國際NGO對智財權議題參與的權力。

See also 參見

• China blocks Wikimedia Foundation’s accreditation to World Intellectual Property Organization by Wikimedia Foundation(en)
  維基媒體基金會發佈的相關新聞訊息