The week of Aug. 27 was an interesting one in terms of US-Taiwan relations. It started with Deputy US Secretary of State John Negroponte's interview with Phoenix Television in Hong Kong. His comments contained a couple of positive elements, such as the fact that the US "is committed to the defense of Taiwan through the Taiwan Relations Act" and his emphasizing the friendship between Taiwan and the US.
The first statement was a welcome relief, because some folks in Washington have been trying to whittle away at the US commitment to defend Taiwan in case of a Chinese attack.
Such ambiguity about the will of the US to defend Taiwan brings an increased risk of miscalculation on the Chinese side and could lead to armed conflict. Negroponte's remarks brought some much-needed clarity on that point.
However, Negroponte then went on to express opposition to the proposed referendum regarding Taiwan's joining the UN under the name "Taiwan."
Negroponte should understand that the proposed referendum underlines the popular desire of the Taiwanese for their country to be a full and equal member in the international community.
It is also designed to counter China's quite successful strategy of isolating Taiwan internationally.
By stating its opposition, the US administration is playing into China's hands and angering and frustrating those in Taiwan who have worked long and hard to achieve democracy.
The US is playing into China's hands because Beijing is manipulating the US administration to do its bidding. China is frightened because as democracy in Taiwan grows and deeps, Beijing has less influence over Taiwan.
Their tactic is clearly to scare the US into restraining Taiwan's democracy -- and, judging by US words and actions, they seem to be succeeding.
Membership in the UN is an important issue for Taiwanese and it would greatly benefit the US and the international community to get a good sense of how Taiwanese view this issue. It would even be a good example for the Chinese to see how democracy works.
A second episode occurred on Thursday, when Dennis Wilder, senior director for Asian Affairs at the US National Security Council, said that membership in the UN requires statehood.
"Taiwan, or the Republic of China, is not at this point a state in the international community" and "Taiwan is not going to be able to join the United Nations under current circumstances," Wilder said.
Like many policymakers in the international arena, Wilder fails to distinguish between "being a state" and "recognition by other nations."
Let me elaborate.
The most authoritative -- and internationally accepted -- definition of the nation state is given in the 1933 Montevideo Convention on Rights and Duties of States, to which the US is a signatory. The convention gives the following qualifications for recognition as a nation state: One, a defined territory, two, a permanent population and three, a government capable of entering into relations with other states.
Taiwan fulfills all these requirements: It is thus a nation-state. Indeed, it has diplomatic ties with 24 -- albeit small -- countries.
Recognition by other nations, however, is not a pre-condition.
If Wilder would go back into the history of the US, he would find that for the first few years of its existence, the US was not recognized by any nation and that it only attained the number of 24 diplomatic ties in 1848 -- some 72 years after the Declaration of Independence. Was the US therefore not a nation-state during that time?
In the case of Taiwan, the issue is also clouded by the fact that until only 15 years ago, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) still claimed to be the rightful government of China.
That claim was indeed not recognized by the international community.
However, following its remarkable transition to democracy in the early 1990s, Taiwan is now a free and democratic nation and its government deserves to be internationally recognized as such. We should not let Taiwan's future be held hostage by either the unsavory legacy of the KMT's repressive rule or the dictates of the Chinese Communist Party.
Taiwan is a full-fledged democracy of world citizens who want their country to be a full and equal member in the international community.
If we are serious about supporting democracy around the world, then we need to nurture the nation's fragile democracy and support its desire to join international organizations such as the UN and the WHO.
Taiwan can join the UN if the US and other Western nations have the political will to stand up for their basic principles of human rights and democracy.
Gerrit van der Wees is the editor of Taiwan Communique.
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