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UN referendum would hurt trust: Young

American Institute in Taiwan Director Stephen Young speaks at a press conference in Taipei yesterday. He said that a planned referendum on Taiwan's bid to enter the UN would undermine trust between Washington and Taipei, but would not result in specific punishment from the US. PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, AP

The government's plan to hold a referendum on applying to join the UN under the name "Taiwan" would hurt the trust between Taiwan and the US, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Stephen Young said yesterday.

"I do think there is a price to be paid in mutual trust when we talked past one another about an important issue like this and that is for Taiwan's political system to consider, but I would stop short of saying that there is some sort of specific consequence, some sort of action or punishment or something that has been in vision here," Young said at a regularly scheduled press conference in Taipei.

He made the remarks in response to a question on whether the US would take action after making a series of attempts to urge Taiwan to drop the plan.

Young said the US' intention is simply to let Taiwanese voters understand the US' opposition to the referendum bid, which is "neither necessary nor helpful" for the country.

Young called the proposed referendum an "Apple pie referendum," saying "no one would oppose" it because of the question it asks.

The question proposed by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for the referendum would ask voters whether they support the country joining the UN under the name "Taiwan."

Young said that if the question was "do you support Taiwan running a referendum to enter the UN under the name of Taiwan on the understanding that it might raise tensions in the Taiwan Strait and strain relations with Taiwan's close security partners," it would have a different outcome.

"I had discovered that the way you asked questions had a lot to do with the answers you got," he said of his experience working at an international polling organization.

There has been speculation that the US' refusal to allow Taiwan to formally request the advanced aircraft was because of the referendum bid.

When asked to describe the progress of Taiwan's plan to purchase 66 advanced F-16 C/D fighter aircraft, Young said that the US is fully aware of Taiwan's interests in the F-16 and is handling the matter in accordance with the procedures set out in the Taiwan Relations Act.

"I am confident that the issue would not be politicized," he said.

He said Taiwan's best response to China's military build-up was an "in-close" weapons defense system and the US' approach was to consider the request for appropriate defense weapons without getting into specifics.

Young began the press conference by saying that the US has no intention of infringing on Taiwanese exercising their democractic rights.

"We have no favorite in either the legislative election or the presidential contest. My government looks forward to working constructively and pursuing US national interests with whoever the Taiwan people select to be their next president," Young said.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs Deputy Spokesman Phoebe Yeh (葉非比) expressed regret that differences over the UN referendum issue remain despite the ministry's efforts to communicate with the US.

Yeh said the relationship between the two countries is cherished by Taiwan and that it was not willing to see the friendship damaged by differing views on a referendum, which is a core value of democracy.
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