[cooperation-wg] Discuss ISO-3166 mark TAIWAN as a Provinces of China on the RIPE NCC website

Dear Members of the Cooperation Working Group,

I am Tsung-Yi Yu from Taiwan, a user of RIPE NCC's services since 2019 with
a deep interest in Global Internet Governance.

I wish to address the classification of Taiwan on RIPE NCC's website,
particularly regarding Country Codes and RIRs:
https://www.ripe.net/membership/member-support/list-of-members/list-of-country-codes-and-rirs/.
Taiwan is listed as a "Province of China," which may cause confusion and
misinterpretation.

Some of the Individuals and legal entities in Taiwan are using RIPE NCC
services like Atlas/RIPEstat. However, the current classification does not
accurately reflect Taiwan's status. I reached out to RIPE NCC Support,
learning that changes to this classification are currently not possible
since they have already implemented the ISO-3166.

Notably, the NRO/APNIC does not refer to Taiwan as a "Province of China"
but rather by its "economy":
https://www.nro.net/list-of-country-codes-in-the-apnic-region/ and
https://www.apnic.net/about-apnic/corporate-documents/documents/corporate/apnic-service-region/.
This approach avoids political sensitivities and ensures clarity.

As I know, the RIPE NCC is operating under a Multi-Stakeholder model
(community), and follows different guidelines from entities like the
UN/IGF. Even the ICANN, does not label Taiwan as a "Province of China"
outside its GAC committee.

That's why I would like to discuss this in here and wish the RIPE NCC to
reconsider its classification of Taiwan, promoting accuracy and respect in
global internet governance.

Please feel free to share your opinion. Thank you!

Best,
Tsung-Yi Yu
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