More than 80 percent of the residents of Taiwan want this country to be a member of the UN. As both of you have recognized in the past, this country is a sovereign nation.
According to international law, the best definition of a sovereign nation appears in the Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States signed in Uruguay on Dec. 26, 1933. According to this treaty, a sovereign state has four characteristics: a permanent population; a defined territory; government; and capacity to enter into relations with other states. Taiwan clearly has all four of these characteristics. In addition, the people of Taiwan freely and democratically elect the nation's government.
This clear unity among the people of this nation in desiring to participate in the UN has been lost in partisan bickering. I urge you both to put aside partisan interests and to concentrate on national interests.
To demonstrate to the world the desire of the Taiwanese to belong to the UN, I would urge a three-point agreement that you:
* Put aside the issue of "name" and do not refer to "Taiwan" or the "Republic of China." Instead, you can refer to "this country."
* Put aside the issue of whether this country shall "join the UN" or "return to the UN." Rather, you can refer to "participating in the UN."
* Urge all voters to support both UN referendums in the March 22 election.
With both of you supporting the two referendums, it is highly likely that they will pass. This will send an important message to the world that this nation is a sovereign nation that both wants and deserves to be a member of the UN. Failing to pass the referendums would send exactly the wrong message.
Such an agreement would also go a long way toward diminishing political division in Taiwan and help to forge a new national unity.
Professor Bruce Jacobs,
Taiwan Research Unit,
Monash University
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