European lawmakers say they were pressured by Chinese diplomats to not attend conference in Taiwan

Lawmakers from at least six countries, including three in Europe, said Chinese diplomats were pressuring them not to attend a conference in Taiwan, in what they described as efforts to isolate the self-governed island. 

Politicians in Slovakia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Bolivia and Colombia, said they were getting texts, calls and urgent requests for meetings that would conflict with their plans to travel to Taipei. 

The conference begins on Monday and is being held by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), a group of hundreds of lawmakers from 35 countries concerned about how democracies approach Beijing. 

IPAC has long faced pressure from the Chinese government and some members have even been sanctioned by Beijing. In 2021, the group was targeted by Chinese state-sponsored hackers, according to a US indictment unsealed earlier this year.

But Luke de Pulford, the alliance's director, said the pressure from Chinese officials in the past few days has been unprecedented, calling it "gross foreign interference."

"How would PRC officials feel if we tried to tell them about their travel plans, where they could and could not go?" he said.

"It's absolutely outrageous that they think that they can interfere in the travel plans of foreign legislators."

During past IPAC meetings in other locations, lawmakers were approached by Chinese diplomats only after they concluded. This year, the first in which IPAC's annual meeting is taking place in Taiwan, there appeared to be a coordinated attempt to stop participants from attending.

"I’m Wu, from Chinese Embassy," read a message sent to Antonio Miloshoski, a member of parliament in North Macedonia.

"We heard that you got an invitation from IPAC, will you