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Government vows to continue UN bid

The government pledged yesterday to forge ahead with its campaign for UN membership as China celebrated a victory after a Taiwanese application to enter the world body was rejected for the 15th straight year.

A UN General Assembly committee decided late on Wednesday against placing Taiwan's application on the Assembly's agenda after strong opposition from Beijing.

Taiwan has three diplomatic allies sitting on the 28-member General Committee. Palau proposed to discuss the motion with an open debate which was supported by Honduras and Gambia.

Except for the chairman, the 24 committee members -- who all recognize China -- voted against the proposal and in favor of a two-versus-two debate.

During the debate, St Vincent and the Grenadines and the Solomon Islands spoke in favor of Taiwan, while China and Egpyt spoke against it, said Janos Tisovszky, spokesman for the assembly president.

The chairman ruled that the motion would not be included in the agenda of the General Assembly due to the lack of consensus.

This was the first time the nation had applied under the name "Taiwan" instead of its formal title, "Republic of China" (ROC).

Under the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) the ROC was a founding nation of the world body in 1945 and was one of the five permanent members of its Security Council. The ROC's seat was taken by the People's Republic of China in 1971.

Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday expressed regret over the UN General Committee's rejection of Taiwan's membership application.

Ministry Spokesman David Wang (王建業) told a press conference yesterday morning the ministry was not surprised at the outcome because it was more difficult politically to apply for UN membership under the name "Taiwan."

Wang said the General Committee spent about an hour discussing Taiwan's application. The motion was endorsed by 16 of the country's diplomatic allies, who requested the issue be included as a supplementary item on the agenda of the 62nd session of the General Assembly.

"China is bullying us with all its might. We knew it was a very difficult task and we will continue our efforts in the years to come," Wang said.

Despite Beijing's suppression, Wang said Taiwan's UN campaign has received much publicity this year.

Although the attempt failed again, Wang said the country's diplomatic allies could still speak in favor of Taiwan during the General Assembly meeting, which begins today, and the general debate, which begins on Tuesday.

"It is a long-term project," Wang said.

Asked about the next step, Wang said the country will not give up until the mission is accomplished, but that it is not a priority at the moment to take the case to the International Court of Justice.

Nor will the country resort to radical measures, such as developing nuclear weapons, to push the UN campaign, Wang said.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu (姜瑜) said yesterday that the UN decision reaffirmed Beijing's position that Taiwan is an integral part of China.

"No one can change the fact that Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territories," China's state-run Xinhua news agency quoted Jiang as saying.

Just before Wednesday's vote, Chinese UN Ambassador Wang Guangya (王光亞) described Taiwan's UN entry bid as a plot to promote independence.

He said President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was using the issue to stoke tensions with Beijing as a way to improve his political standing in Taiwan.

"Instead of offering blessings to the Taiwan compatriots, these activities can only have disastrous consequences," Xinhua, in a separate report, quoted Wang as saying. "We hope and believe that the Taiwan compatriots can clearly see Chen's ulterior motives."

Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) has warned of a "possibly dangerous" period in relations.

Nevertheless, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets last Saturday to support the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) rally in Kaohsiung City in favor of holding a referendum on the country's UN bid under the name "Taiwan."

On the same day, the KMT held a parallel rally in Taichung City, calling for a "return" to the UN under the name Pepublic of China.

In Taipei, DPP lawmakers yesterday expressed their disappointment with the UN General Assembly Committee decision, while KMT lawmakers slammed the government for squandering money on the matter.

DPP legislative caucus whip Wang Tuoh (王拓) said the rejection of Taiwan's bid showed that the UN has lost its faith in justice and had failed to uphold the spirit of basic human rights, freedom and democracy.

"The UN is merely a stage where international hegemonies vie with each other for their own interests," he said.

DPP Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) criticized UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for previous remarks unfavorable to Taiwan's application for a UN seat.

It was very "improper" that Ban, in his capacity as UN secretary-general, wrongly interpreted the Resolution 2758 to justify Taiwan's exclusion from the UN, Hsiao said.

The KMT legislative caucus estimated that the government had spent as much as NT$100 million (US$3 million) promoting the UN bid.

The defeat of the application for UN membership under the name "Taiwan" proved that "it was a false issue," KMT Legislative caucus whip Kuo Su-chun (郭素春) said.

"The only concrete result was that a large sum of taxpayers' money was spent by the DPP government to get votes for the [DPP] party," Kuo said.

The KMT legislative caucus said yesterday it would file a misconduct lawsuit against relevant government agencies and state-run business heads who provided funds for the Government Information Office's (GIO) UN bid advertising campaign on the grounds that the "budget were misused."

In response, GIO Minister Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉) said that promoting the nation's UN bid was a national policy and that it differed from the DPP's promotion of its UN referendum. The KMT should not merge two issues on purpose, he said.

DPP Secretary-General Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday said the party is planning to hold a round-the-island torch relay on Oct. 24 -- UN Day -- to promote Taiwan's UN bid.

The DPP hopes the torch relay will help the party achieve its goal of collecting more than 2 million signatures by the end of next month for its initiative to hold a referendum on applying to join the UN under the name "Taiwan," he said.

Lin also claimed that according to intelligence, Beijing has put pressure on the KMT by closely watching whether or not top KMT officials joined the signature drive for the KMT's proposed UN referendum.

If the KMT's UN referendum bid were to fail, some of the KMT heavyweights -- such as former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) -- who share close relations with Beijing should be blamed, Yu said.

KMT spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) later dismissed the remarks, stressing that KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and the party will use every resource to push for its version of a UN referendum.

Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih
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