Plans to pass a legislative motion clarifying Taiwan’s stance on UN Resolution 2758 might be derailed as the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demurs on the issue, saying it could adversely affect cross-strait relations.
The Democratic Progressive Party, which is planning to draft a motion to address UN Resolution 2758, is hoping to gain the support of other parties, but the KMT caucus yesterday said that such a motion needs further evaluation.
China has aligned UN Resolution 2758 with its own definition of the “one China principle,” reducing Taiwan’s opportunity for participation on the world stage.
Photo: AP
However, the resolution has recently captured the attention of the international community, with the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, the Australian Senate and the Dutch House of Representatives successively passing motions in support of Taiwan and seeking to clarify that the resolution does not involve Taiwan nor is it the same as China’s interpretation.
UN Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative” of China, but it does not state that it has sovereignty over Taiwan, as Beijing has insisted.
The KMT caucus yesterday said that the DPP’s proposed motion “needs to be evaluated pragmatically.”
Rather than hastily passing such a motion, it is necessary to determine how it could potentially affect the development of cross-strait relations, including if it could raise tensions between the two sides, KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Szu-ming (林思銘) said.
Every member of the legislature loves their country and hopes to see Taiwan engage with the international community, but it is necessary to first pragmatically manage cross-strait relations, he said.
Cross-strait relations take precedence over other diplomatic ties, and only by handling them well would Taiwan have more space to participate on the world stage, he added.
Lin urged the DPP to carefully consider whether such a motion would contribute toward peaceful relations with China, rather than only helping Taiwan.
He also expressed gratitude on behalf of his party for the support from other countries.
The KMT’s response drew sharp criticism from the DPP.
“With a party like that, who needs enemies? The KMT should apologize to Taiwanese society,” DPP caucus deputy secretary-general Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) said.
DPP caucus secretary-general Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) accused the KMT caucus of backtracking on its earlier support for the proposed motion, citing Lin’s comments when the Australian Senate passed its motion last month.
“The KMT is under pressure from whom?” she asked, in an apparent reference to China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) last week urging countries to stop supporting Taiwan and reaffirming its own interpretation linking UN Resolution 2758 and its “one China principle.”
Wu asked whether the KMT caucus had been influenced by China’s comments, and questioned whether the party is fit to partake in governing the country.
Lin’s lack of support is disappointing, DPP Legislator Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘) said.
While the world supports Taiwan in its hopes of clarifying UN Resolution 2758, the KMT reversed its position as soon as the TAO commented on the issue, he said, adding that the KMT preferred to follow the TAO’s lead.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat