20110911 WIKILEAKS: Ma considered ‘half-hearted’ UN option, cable shows

WIKILEAKS: Ma considered ‘half-hearted’ UN option, cable shows

CONUNDRUM: A leaked US cable showed China torn between wanting to grant the KMT some international space and fears that the DPP might take advantage of it later

By Shih Hsiu-chuan / Staff Reporter

President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) “advisers” had considered three options for Taiwan’s 2008 UN bid, one being to “continue with the application, but do it ‘half-heartedly,’” a US cable released by WikiLeaks showed

Since 1993, Taiwan has submitted bids to the UN general assembly, which annually convenes in September, for full UN membership.

Starting in August 2008, Taiwan forwent its quest for UN full membership, instead seeking “meaningful participation” in the 16 auxiliary agencies of the UN.

A US cable dated June 25, 2008, and issued by the US consulate in Shanghai showed then-president of the Shanghai Institute for International Studies Yang Jiemian (楊潔勉) as saying “Ma’s advisers are still debating whether or not to suspend Taiwan’s application for United Nations membership this year.”

“There are three possible options: a) suspend the application if cross-Strait relations continue to improve; b) continue with the application but do it ‘half-heartedly’; c) continue with the application ‘more energetically’ to show Ma cares more than the [Democratic Progressive Party] DPP about Taiwan’s international space. Yang stated that Ma’s advisers have not reached a conclusion on this yet,” the cable says.

Yang, brother of Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jeichi (楊潔篪), told Kenneth Jarrett, then---consul-general of the US consulate in Shanghai, said that he learned that from high-level advisers to Ma during a recent trip to Taiwan, where he said he also met members of the DPP.

Another cable dated June 29, 2008, from the US embassy in Beijing showed that some Chinese academics initially thought that Ma would also propose a bid to join the UN that year, which Ma did not.

Tsinghua University professor Chu Shulong (楚樹龍) was quoted in the cable as saying that he “expects Taiwan to make a ‘pro forma’ effort to join the UN under the name Republic of China and that PRC [People’s Republic of China] will block the bid in a low-key manner.”

The same cable showed that the US embassy recorded different views held by some Chinese academies on how much leeway China would grant for Taiwan’s international space.

“China is interested in allowing Taiwan to expand its participation in international organizations ‘as appropriate.’ Beijing is worried, however, that in the future, the current ‘friendly’ KMT [Chinese Nationalist Party] regime could give way to a more independence-minded DPP administration, which could then use any gains the KMT had made for Taiwan in international space to push its independence goals,” Yuan Peng, director of the North American Institute at the Ministry of State Security--affiliated China Institutes for Contemporary International Relations, was quoted as saying.

Yuan said that “the current cross-Strait strategy is a ‘three-step program,’ with the Three Links as the first step, addressing the question of Taiwan’s international space as the second step and the issue of sovereignty reserved for last.”

Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS) vice president Chen Dongxiao (陳東曉) said in another cable dated Feb 13, 2009, that there would be progress on Taiwan’s international space after cross-strait relationships improve, but “PRC officials nevertheless worry that concessions made now could be used by Taiwan pro-independence forces in the future.”

“Some in China fear that PRC concessions on this issue could be used in the future by Taiwan ‘secessionists’ as a facade for real independence. As long as the ‘one China’ principle is preserved, the international space issue can be addressed in a prudent way,” Chen said.