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Delegation for Taiwan's U.N. bid blasts gov't

CNA

A 26-member group pushing for Taiwan entry into the United Nations said yesterday before heading to New York that it opposed the government’s bid to only seek participation in U.N. agencies and that the desire of Taiwan’s people to join the world body needed to be heard.

Organized by the pro-independence nongovernmental Taiwan United Nations Alliance (TAIUNA) and the Taiwan Presbyterian Church, the lobbying group will hold protests outside U.N. headquarters in New York Sept. 16 when the 63rd U.N. General Assembly opens.

Twu Shiing-jer, deputy chairman of the TAIUNA, said that given that it is impossible for the Republic of China to return to the U.N., joining the U.N. under the name “Taiwan” is more feasible.

The Ma Ying-jeou administration’s latest approach to seek only meaningful participation in U.N. specialized agencies rather than full membership compromises Taiwan’s sovereignty, Twu argued.

“The TAIUNA contends that we have to join the U.N. using the name ‘Taiwan,’” Twu said. “We want to loudly trumpet the voice of the Taiwanese people and say ‘No’ to China.”

Taiwan submitted a proposal Aug. 14 to enter the U.N. that asked the U.N. General Assembly at its Sept. 16 meeting to reconsider the feasibility of Taiwan’s meaningful participation in U.N. specialized agencies.

The new approach, which reflects the Ma government’s strategy of maintaining a diplomatic “truce” with China, makes no mention of attempting to enter the U.N. under the name Taiwan or the possibility of returning to the U.N. as the ROC.

Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker Chai Trong-jung said that only by joining the U.N. as a full member could Taiwan have access to U.N. specialized agencies.

He blasted Foreign Minister Francisco H.L. Ou for saying a day earlier that Taiwan has suffered no harm from the diplomatic “truce” strategy, saying that the foreign ministry should be much more proactive.

“President Ma Ying-jeou’s foreign policy has damaged the interests of Taiwan,” Chai said. “Only Taiwan’s people can be counted on to do Taiwan’s diplomatic work. It is a dead end to count on Ma.”

Yen Chiang-lung, a 26-year-old member of the group, contended that China’s opposition is the only obstacle to Taiwan’s participation in the U.N., and argued that Taiwan should speak up for itself.

Yen said it was wrong for Ma to characterize the relations between Taiwan and China as a type of “special relations different from links between two states.”

“Belittling ourselves will cause international misunderstanding, which is terrible,” Yen said.”Taiwan’s young generation should stand up and let the international community know that we are willing to safeguard Taiwan’s unique identity.”

In an exclusive interview with Mexican daily El Sol de Mexico Aug. 26, Ma said he does not think there are two China’s across the Taiwan Strait because the constitutions of neither the Republic of China nor the People’s Republic of China allow for the existence of another country on their territory.

The Republic of China Constitution, a holdover from before the Chinese civil war when the Kuomintang was still in power, describes the country’s territory as including all of continental China, Mongolia and Tibet.

Ma’s “non-state-to-state” concept was harshly criticized by opposition party figures, who contended that Ma had turned his back on Taiwan and sacrificed the country’s sovereignty.

Since 1993, Taiwan’s diplomatic allies have been trying to get the General Assembly to list the issue on the U.N. agenda, but Beijing’s argument that Taiwan is part of China has prevailed.

Taiwan has not been a member of the U.N. since 1971, when the PRC took over the Republic of China’s seat.

Copyright © 2008 The China Post

Published in The China Post