On Oct. 12, the US formally notified UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova that it would withdraw from the organization as an official member state. The US would in the future participate as an observer state.
The US decision to withdraw is an extension of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The problem began in 2011, when UNESCO officially admitted Palestine as a full member state, even though Palestine is formally recognized only as a “non-member state” at the UN.
The admittance of Palestine triggered a 1990 US law (H.R. 3792, Title III, Sec. 414), which prohibits the “appropriation of funds for the United Nations or any specialized agency thereof which accords the Palestine Liberation Organization [PLO] the same standing as a member state.”
Consequently, the US cut off its funding to UNESCO, which at US$80 million annually accounted for about 22 percent of the organization’s budget. In November 2013, UNESCO suspended the US’ voting rights in its core decisionmaking bodies after the US missed several rounds of payments to the organization.
The loss of voting rights means that the US’ role and influence within UNESCO has been greatly diminished. Without voting rights, the US has in effect been participating in UNESCO as an observer state since 2013. Hence, US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw is more symbolic than substantive.
So what does this have to do with Taiwan? The US law cited above applies only to the PLO and not to Taiwan or other disputed territories. However, the above law was broadened in 1994 with the passage of H.R. 2333, Title IV, Sec. 410.
This law de-emphasized the PLO and stipulates that “the US shall not make any voluntary or assessed contribution to any affiliated organization of the United Nations which grants full membership as a state to any organization or group that does not have the internationally recognized attributes of statehood.”
It is unclear whether Taiwan is covered under this law, as what constitutes “internationally recognized attributes of statehood” was is not prop.
Taiwan meets all four criteria of the Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States, namely a permanent population, a defined territory, a government and capacity to enter into relations with the other states. What Taiwan is missing, is the official and explicit recognition from the UN and all but 20 nations in the world that it is an official country.
The answer to this question is critical when Taiwan is seeking membership in the UN and its affiliated organizations.
Under normal circumstances Taiwan’s entry would compel the US to stop paying its fees to whatever UN body it seeks to join, eventually forcing the US to switch from a member state to an observer state. This means Taiwan’s membership would cause collateral damage to the US, Taiwan’s most important diplomatic ally.
This is why it is highly unlikely that the US would vote in favor of Taiwan’s membership in any UN organization, irrespective of China’s forceful protests.
However, these are not normal circumstances.
As Trump has formally withdrawn the US from UNESCO, Taiwan’s membership in the organization would no longer cause harm to the US. This is a subtle, but important change that Taiwan must take advantage of.
Lin Chiu-hsiang is an independent scholar.
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under