Department of Health Minister Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川) lost control when Taiwanese students confronted him in Geneva, where he was attending the World Health Assembly (WHA) earlier this month. President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said the accusations against Yeh were “intolerable,” so he could understand Yeh’s feelings, while Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said the government had no choice but to accept “Chinese Taipei.” They clearly didn’t know what they were saying.
Their reaction only highlights the guilty conscience of the Ma administration, which is lying in its attempts to gain credit while treating Taiwan’s sovereignty as child’s play.
Yeh said he felt “great” as he participated in the WHA as an observer and acted pleased with himself, while ignorantly claiming it was the first time in 38 years Taiwan participated in a UN “event” despite the fact that the Republic of China (ROC) was still a member of the World Bank and the IMF in 1980. In seeking credit for Ma, Yeh put down Ma’s mentor, former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), by ignoring events that occurred during Chiang’s presidency.
The government can be flexible on the title under which it participates in international organizations, but it must uphold the principles of independence and reciprocity. Although Chiang agreed that Taiwan maintained membership as “Chinese Taipei” in the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on the advice of former US president Ronald Reagan’s administration, he refused to send a delegation to attend bank meetings. When former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) decided to send delegations to the ADB meetings, he insisted that the delegation lodge a protest and cover the title “Chinese Taipei” on their name tags.
Taiwan’s national status is in a special predicament, so participation in international events only makes sense if they are beneficial to the open or tacit recognition of Taiwan’s sovereignty. If the way in which the government participates in international organizations implies that Taiwan is part of China, then participation brings disgrace to the nation.
Despite China’s attempts to annex Taiwan, the Ma government goes along with the “one China” framework while Yeh made innane remarks while sitting as an observer at the WHA. The WHO has listed Taiwan as a province of China and included Taiwan’s cases of A(H1N1) influenza under China’s listing. The Ma government sold out Taiwan for participation in an international event.
In 1971, “the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石)” were expelled from the UN and all its related organizations. Yang Hsi-kun (楊西崑), then- deputy foreign minister, told US officials that the wording of UN Resolution 2758 proposed by Albania and 22 other countries was “to expel forthwith the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek” instead of “the ROC,” and thus if a future government in Taiwan declared jurisdiction over Taiwan alone, it might easily gain sympathy and acceptance as a member at UN specialized agencies.
Two elected governments — those of former presidents Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Lee Teng-hui — declared that the “ROC” was simply the national title of Taiwan, that neither the People’s Republic of China nor the ROC had jurisdiction over the other, and that the ROC was actively seeking international recognition.
Ma, however, restored the party-state system and is conforming to the “one China” framework. He is implementing the “one country, two systems” model according to China’s directives. If Yang knew, he would have heckled Ma too.
James Wang is a media commentator.
TRANSLATED BY TED YANG
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