China has expressed its concerns directly to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan about Taiwan scrapping the National Unification Council and unification guidelines, Chinese state press reported yesterday.
Chinese Ambassador to the UN Wang Guangya (王光亞), met with Annan and UN General Assembly President Jan Eliasson on Wednesday in New York to brief them on the actions led by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), Xinhua said.
"Chen's move poses a serious threat to the current peaceful situation between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan," Xinhua quoted Wang as saying in the meetings. "The move is an affront to the `one China' principle which has been endorsed by the international community."
China's approach to Annan and the UN comes despite its insistence that Taiwan is an internal issue and that it tolerates no interference from outside forces.
Gilles Guiheux, director of the Hong Kong-based French Center for Research of Contemporary China, described China's engagement with the UN on Taiwan as "paradoxical."
"China has been very successful in excluding Taiwan from all multilateral institutes, so in a sense, these meetings in a way acknowledge that the Taiwan issue is becoming an international issue," Guiheux said.
Taiwanese officials were quick to point out what they perceived as the hypocrisy of China going to the UN -- an organization that it has prevented Taiwan from joining.
"China's complaint to the UN reveals that the two [Taiwan and China] are actually different countries. Hadn't China always thought Taiwan is part of its internal issue? Then why should it make the protest to the UN?" Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Michel Lu (呂慶龍) said yesterday.
Lu said China's complaint to the UN misled the international community about the fact that it had forced Taiwan's hand by passing the "Anti-Secession" Law.
"It's incredible that China complained to the UN, while it should be held accountable for changing the [cross-strait] status quo," Lu said.
Chen signed documents on Tuesday announcing that the National Unification Council would "cease to function" and the guidelines mandating unification would "cease to apply," prompting an angry response from China.
The MOFA spokesman said the ministry was still waiting for more information from Taiwan's representative office in New York regarding the response from UN officials on the issue.
"So far we have only heard China's interpretation. We need to learn more about the case to know exactly what the UN said," Lu said.
China has in the past stoutly refused to deal with Taiwan in any way that acknowledges it as a de facto independent country, as its position is that Beijing's dealings with Taiwan remain an "internal matter."
"It seems that now they [Beijing] are appealing to the international community to pressure Taiwan and Chen Shui-bian from acting the way they have been acting," Guiheux said.
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