The effectiveness of the government’s policy of cross-strait detente was thrown into doubt again yesterday after a Chinese delegate to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen on Thursday opposed Taiwan’s bid for entry to the group.
A Central News Agency report said that after nine of Taiwan’s allies, including Kiribati, Palau, Gambia, Swaziland, Sao Tome and Principe, Burkina Faso, St Lucia, St Christopher and Nevis and Nicaragua, had spoken in favor of Taiwan’s bid for inclusion in the global response to climate change, a member of the Chinese delegation cited the “one China” principle and said the initiatives in favor of Taiwan’s bid to join as an observer had “hurt the feelings of the 1.3 billion Chinese people.”
In response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday protested China’s actions and said Beijing should stop oppressing Taiwan’s bid for involvement in non-political global bodies, but declined to mark the Thursday incident as a failure of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) “diplomatic truce.”
“We have always urged China to stop sabotaging Taiwan’s efforts to enter international organizations. The UNFCCC is a key event in which the world comes together to discuss the problem of global warming. It is essential that Taiwan participate in this effort because it pertains to the livelihoods of the Taiwanese people as well as the global population in general,” MOFA Deputy Spokesman James Chang (章計平) said.
Chang, however, refused to equate China’s opposition as a sign that “diplomatic truce” — a declaration made unilaterally by Taiwan that it would not lure away China’s allies as long as China agreed to do the same — was a failed policy.
“There have been other examples where the truce has proven to be effective, such as Taiwan’s accession to the World Health Assembly (WHA) this May as an observer,” Chang said.
Speaking yesterday in Taipei in what was interpreted as his response to the rejection, Ma called on China to respect Taiwanese non-governmental organizations’ (NGO) participation in the international community to stabilize cross-strait relations. The two sides have been seeking peaceful cross-strait relations since he assumed office last May, Ma said. However some Chinese groups continued to suppress Taiwanese NGOs’ participation in the international community.
“We should not engage in vicious competition, and Chinese NGOs should stop suppressing our NGOs in participating in international society. Otherwise Taiwanese will have a bad impression of mainland China,” Ma said yesterday when speaking at an NGO event at a Taipei County Government office.
Ma later reiterated the importance of NGOs in Taiwan seeking more participation in international society as he met with top government officials, but he promised to continue government efforts to stabilize cross-strait relations.
“We expect stabilized cross-strait relations will let us have a stabilized environment in Taiwan,” Ma said when meeting with heads from the Executive Yuan, Legislative Yuan, Control Yuan, Examination Yuan and Judicial Yuan at the Presidential Office.
Ma said the government would sign four agreements on fishing industry cooperation, quality checks for agricultural products, cross-strait cooperation in inspection and certification and avoiding double taxation, and expected the negotiations would promote cross-strait relations.
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