With the 62nd session of the UN General Assembly opening in New York on Tuesday, the General Committee was expected to meet yesterday to finalize the agenda and decide whether Taiwan's UN membership bid should be included as a supplementary item for discussion.
While UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon seemed to give the item a more positive spin yesterday -- he said he hoped the issue would be deliberated on -- it remains unlikely that the assembly will afford due process to Taiwan's application.
After 14 years of failure, this is the first time the government has applied for UN membership under the name "Taiwan," a departure from the practice of using the formal title "Republic of China."
Another bout of disappointment notwithstanding, Taiwan is to some degree better off this year in its pursuit of a UN seat.
For the truth is that national identification among ordinary people has strengthened, and this includes referring to "Taiwan" as a state. This is evident from polls pointing to a comfortable percentage of people identifying themselves with Taiwan and expressing support for a referendum on the nation's UN bid.
As noted by Government Information Office Minister Shieh Jhy-wey (
The more Taiwan speaks to the international community, the better it can demonstrate that it and China are separate countries.
And Chinese officials are welcome to deliver incensed responses. The more ridiculous and strident their comments, the more credibility Taiwan secures and the more unifying the effect on all Taiwanese.
Such was the case in a Danish newspaper report, in which a Chinese diplomat claimed that: "According to the Cairo Declaration [1943] and the Potsdam Proclamation [1945], Taiwan is part of the People's Republic of China." This only ended up drawing the reader's attention to the extraordinary ability of Chinese propagandists to backdate the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Even so, it appears China has had success in driving a wedge between Taiwan and the US by pressuring the latter to oppose the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government's proposed UN referendum. This opposition came in the shape of a certain US official dismissing Taiwan's statehood.
Some breakthrough, until one considers that the Chinese face enormous problems selling this drivel to the Taiwanese man and woman on the street. Until that time, we can expect the Chinese Foreign Ministry to take comfort from the US State Department's attempts to mute the forces of liberty in Taiwan.
The opposition has criticized the DPP administration for making the issue an electoral gambit.
Be that as it may. For the good of Taiwan's long-term interests, the government should press on and further internationalize the issue.
Let the world see how democratic Taiwan is, and how it differs from an autocratic China. Let the world see first-hand how China bullies those who dare to stand up for themselves -- and how easily the UN will fall into step when required.
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