Taiwan’s longstanding alienation from the UN will not see any major breakthrough this year despite the government’s “softer approach,” some academics predicted, saying the fate of Taiwan’s UN bid is in Beijing’s hands.
For the first time since 1993, Taiwan will not submit an application for membership or request the that General Assembly review Resolution 2758, which replaced the Republic of China with the People’s Republic of China as the sole representative of China in the UN, but will only seek “meaningful participation” in the activities sponsored by the 16 groups under the UN umbrella.
The text of the proposal calls upon the General Assembly to “examine the fundamental rights of the 23 million people of the Republic of China [Taiwan] to participate meaningfully in the activities of the UN specialized agencies.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was a “more gentle, feasible and pragmatic” approach as opposed to the previous administration’s “scorched earth diplomacy.”
“Of course we understand the chances of Taiwan’s proposal being adopted this year are extremely low. But our approach meets the expectations of the international community, including major players such as the United States and the EU,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrew Hsieh (夏立言) said.
Wang Kun-yi (王崑義), a professor at National Taiwan Ocean University, lambasted the bid as a “giant step backward,” saying limited participation in the activities of UN agencies “absolutely does not equate to joining the UN.”
The least the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government should do is to push its own UN resolution to “return” to the global body, instead of abandoning what it has promoted before, he said.
He also said Beijing’s silence on the bid so far must not be seen as welcoming the gesture.
“China is probably still too busy with the Olympic Games,” he said, “China knows it must weigh its moves carefully so it won’t appear be too hostile to avoid the risk of increasing support for Taiwanese independence.”
Another academic said the proposal should have included Taiwan’s desire to join UN activities as well as activities by UN groups because the political and functional significance of the two are “strikingly different.”
“We have jumped from one extreme to another extreme, but neither method will convince the General Assembly to include the Taiwan issue on their agenda,” said Lin Cheng-yi (林正義), a researcher at the Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies.
Last year, Taiwan for the first time tried to join the UN as a new member under the designation “Taiwan.”
Then US deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs Thomas Christensen described the move as “needlessly provocative.”
“Despite our less confrontational approach this year, Beijing still won’t let Taiwan’s bid go through,” Lin said, adding that the success of the bid should not hinge upon whether the assembly’s General Affairs Committee adopts the resolution, but rather on other indicators, such as the level of debate that takes place within the committee.
“Will the committee resort again to its usual two-plus-two debate format or will more countries speak up for Taiwan? Countries such as the US, members of the EU, Canada, Japan and Australia will not support Taiwan to join the UN, but would they at least speak on Taiwan’s need to participate in the international community?” he said.
Lin Wen-cheng (林文程), deputy executive director of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, said if Beijing continues to take an oppressive approach against Taiwan despite the change in tactics, “It would be justifiable to interpret it as meaning that Beijing does not care for the ‘diplomatic truce’ that [President] Ma [Ying-jeou (馬英九)] has initiated.”
“Taiwan is retreating now in order to advance later. But if Beijing still blocks Taiwan’s observership bid at the next World Health Assembly in May, then we can take it that China has no interest in extending goodwill to Taiwan on the diplomatic front,” he said.
The ball, Lin said, was in Beijing’s court.
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