Article:'Taiwan' submits second U.N. bid

by Allen Hsu

to see the original article on the Taiwan Journal website, please click here


ROC President Chen Shui-bian submitted a second application for Taiwan's membership of the United Nations after the first was rejected by the U.N. Office of Legal Affairs July 23 based on U.N. Resolution 2758, Taiwan's Office of the President stated Aug. 1.

Chen wrote two letters July 27, one to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the other to Wang Guangya, China's permanent U.N. representative who, in July, held the rotating post of president of the U.N. Security Council.

The letters were delivered July 31 through the U.N. permanent representatives of the Solomon Islands and Swaziland, two of Taiwan's diplomatic allies, the OOP said.

"Resolution 2758 neither grants China the right to represent Taiwan's 23 million people at the United Nations, or states that Taiwan is either a part of China or the People's Republic of China," Chen reiterated in his letter to Ban. Taiwan was an independent sovereign nation, he continued, and its people had the right to participate in the world body, as stipulated in the U.N. Charter.
Only the Security Council and the General Assembly, rather than the Secretariat, had the authority to review and decide on U.N. membership applications, Chen noted. "Our membership application should be duly processed in accordance with relevant rules of procedure of the United Nations."

In his letter to Wang, the president recounted that the United Nations aimed to maintain international peace and security, boost amicable relations among nations and make international cooperation possible. "Taiwan subscribes to this purpose and is willing and able to fulfill the obligations expected of U.N. members," Chen stressed.

Wang returned the letter the same day he received it, Taiwan's Central News Agency reported Aug. 3, and was quoted by China's Xinhua News Agency as calling Taiwan's U.N. bid "a very serious separatist act seeking independence for Taiwan," the CNA reported.

Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council solemnly protested Wang's rejection Aug. 2. China ignored Taiwan's existence, denied its legal status and democratic development, deployed missiles against it, attempted to diplomatically subjugate Taiwan in the international community and had changed the status quo of the Taiwan Strait, the MAC stated. The world should take seriously the perilous situation that China's military buildup was causing, it claimed.

U.N. permanent representatives from five of Taiwan's diplomatic allies--Palau, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Solomon Islands, Swaziland and El Salvador--also wrote to Ban Aug. 2 and to Pascal Gayama, Congo's U.N. permanent representative who was president of the U.N. Security Council for August.