Many US-based supporters of Taiwan are “bitterly disappointed” by indications from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) that Taipei will not renew its campaign for UN membership.
“There are no legal hurdles for Taiwan to join the UN as a full member,” said Coen Blaauw, an official with the Washington-based Formosan Association for Public Affairs. “There is one big political hurdle though and it is called China. China stands with a big stick at the door of the UN saying: ‘You can’t get in.’”
“The international community needs to be reminded of this every year during the third week of September when the UN General Assembly opens. And Taiwan needs to tell the international community every third week of September that it’s not right,” he said.
An official for another Taiwanese group in Washington said “it is a mistake not to apply to the UN every year. China will always be able to stop us, but if we stop trying it will look like we are giving up.”
“International diplomats are already saying that it is just a matter of time before we are folded into China. And stopping our application to the UN reinforces that view. It makes it look inevitable. It is a bad mistake and another indication of the Ma administration bowing to the wishes of Beijing,” the official said.
For the last 16 years Taiwan has petitioned for UN membership at the annual September General Assembly meeting in New York only to be vetoed by China.
A MOFA official has been quoted as saying that “Taiwan may choose to be more realistic and not submit a UN proposal at all this year.”
The Central News Agency quoted a MOFA official as saying: “It would be easier to maintain our efforts of the past, but we consider it as unrealistic to try to force a way into the UN, which is politically a highly sensitive matter.”
Rather, “we will work out solid action plans to seek international support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in UN-affiliated activities. Of course this is presuming that mainland China does not oppose such efforts,” the official said.
“Our priority is to seek entry to the United Nations’ 15 specialized agencies, including the [International] Civil Aviation Organization [ICAO], which develops international standards for aviation safety, and the International Marine Organization [IMO], which is concerned with the safety of shipping and cleaner oceans,” the official said.
Last month, China dropped its objections to Taiwan becoming an observer at the World Health Assembly — following 12 failed bids — seen to be the result of warming cross-strait ties. But Beijing insisted that Taiwan’s observer status had to be under the name “Chinese Taipei” and that it had to be renewed every year, giving China veto power should a new Taiwanese president come to power with more independence-leaning policies.
Even before MOFA mentioned its switch in UN tactics to reporters in Taipei, US government sources were saying off the record that there was to be a new drive to gain entry to the ICAO and the IMO for Taiwan.
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