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US politicians seek full UN membership
for Taiwan
SWIMMING AGAINST THE TIDE: Taiwan¡¦s representative to the EU said that the
country had listed entry to the ICAO and the UNFCCC as among its primary goals
By William Lowther
Staff Reporter in WASHINGTON, with CNA
Friday, Sep 17, 2010, Page 3
As the UN General Assembly opened its annual meeting in New
York this week, Republican Congressman Scott Garrett introduced a new resolution
on Capitol Hill calling for Taiwan¡¦s full membership in the international
organization.
Garrett¡¦s bill, cosponsored by fellow Republicans John Duncan, Mike Coffman and
Walter Jones, is likely to win widespread support in the House of
Representatives, but unlikely to have anything but symbolic impact.
¡§The people of Taiwan and their freely elected government continue to be ignored
by the United Nations,¡¨ Garrett said.
¡§Not only is this continued ignorance clearly counter to the lofty goals of the
United Nations, it is also dangerous. Because of Taiwan¡¦s difficulties in
gaining recognition with the world body, they have been excluded from many of
the World Health Organization¡¦s structures to prevent the international spread
of disease,¡¨ he said.
Bob Yang, president of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs, said:
¡§Taiwan¡¦s full and equal membership in the United Nations and other
international organizations is long overdue.¡¨
The move came as China announced that Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (·Å®aÄ_) would
meet US President Barack Obama for a private meeting on the fringe of the
General Assembly next week.
¡§The meeting comes amid a push to repair relations stressed by disagreements
over everything from trade policy to arms sales to Taiwan,¡¨ the Associated Press
reported.
A US diplomatic source confirmed that Wen would ¡§almost certainly¡¨ call for an
end to US arms sales to Taiwan and that Obama would refuse to give any
assurances.
It has been reported that while relations between China and the US soured
earlier this year over arms sales to Taiwan, they have improved recently
following high-level meetings between the two sides.
Earlier this week, the US State Department released a speech made in Geneva by
US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg in which he said that building a
relationship with China should not cause the US to shy away from pressing in
areas of important differences.
¡§It is vital that China restores the military-to-military dialogue with us. This
should not be a bargaining chip. It builds trust, prevents miscalculation and
lets both sides address our disagreements,¡¨ he said.
While Steinberg did not directly mention Taiwan, it was a significant background
factor.
China has agreed to restore military-to-military relations ¡X broken off in
February after Obama announced new arms sales to Taiwan, but many experts
believe that Beijing will break them off again if the US agrees to sell more
arms to Taiwan.
Meanwhile, Taiwan¡¦s representative to the EU and Belgium told the European
Parliament in a speech on Wednesday that Taiwan was seeking to participate in
international organizations and contribute to the international community.
David Lin (ªL¥Ã¼Ö) said in his speech that the country had listed entry to the
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the UN Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC) among its primary goals.
Although Taiwan has been invited to attend the World Health Assembly as an
observer since last year, it is still excluded from other international
organizations, Lin said.
Describing Taiwan¡¦s request to join the organizations as ¡§reasonable,¡¨ Lin
called on major players, such as the US, Japan and the EU, to speak out in
support of Taiwan¡¦s participation.
Taipei would also promote Taiwan¡¦s participation in ASEAN Plus Three (China,
Japan and South Korea), as a precursor to trying to take part in other
international organizations and activities, Lin said.
He also urged the EU to quickly enter negotiations with Taiwan on establishing a
free-trade agreement.
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