The Presidential Office yesterday said the priority for the administration’s UN bid was to participate in the international organization and that the name it would use to apply to join was secondary.
Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had finalized the strategy the administration would adopt this year before he embarked on an eight-day state visit to Latin America and the Caribbean yesterday afternoon.
Wang, however, refused to reveal what name the country would use in the bid, saying that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) would make the announcement on Friday.
Wang said that Ma’s position on the matter had been clear and consistent, adding that any approach must be “practical” and “flexible.”
Media reports said that authorities at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would adopt a “gentle” approach that is “low key,” “practical” and “rational.”
Speculation abounds that the administration is unlikely to use “Taiwan,” the name the former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration used to apply for full membership last year. Nor was it likely to use “Republic of China,” the name proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in a referendum held in tandem with the presidential election in March. The referendum failed along with one initiated by the DPP, which proposed joining the UN under the name “Taiwan.”
Wang yesterday declined to speculate whether prospects were better this year because the president and vice president of this year’s UN General Assembly are from the country’s diplomatic allies. This year also saw the highest number of the country’s diplomatic allies sitting on the General Committee since the country began its bid to re-enter the UN.
The DPP caucus yesterday criticized the government’s strategy of “not emphasizing the nation’s name” when applying to join the UN.
DPP legislative caucus whip Chang Hua-kuan (張花冠) told a press conference that the KMT government is prepared to dismiss the name of Taiwan for the country’s bid to join the UN and various international organizations.
Citing Ma’s previous remarks saying that he would not mind if China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) addresses him as “Mr Ma” if he visits Taiwan later this year, Chang said that “Ma’s dismissal of Taiwan and the presidential title would be the first step leading to the country’s death.”
DPP Legislator Wong Chin-chu (翁金珠) said the government’s strategy would weaken Taiwan’s sovereignty and confuse national identity.
DPP lawmakers asked the government to apply for UN membership using the name “Taiwan.”
At a separate setting, DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said “the KMT’s cross-strait policies and its approach to Taiwan’s bid to join various international organizations obviously reflect old KMT government thinking of the last century.”
Since the global stage has changed, the KMT’s old approach does not meet Taiwanese interests and expectations, she said.
Meanwhile, MOFA yesterday also remained tight-lipped on the government’s UN bid this year, except to say details would be given on Friday.
“All the details will be revealed on Friday by Deputy Minister Andrew Hsia (夏立言),” MOFA Spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) said, but disclosed that the language would not include the verbs “join” or “return.”
“This year’s approach will be based on pragmatism and flexibility,” he said.
Additional reporting by Rich Chang and Jenny W. Hsu
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
RSS