Senior Taiwan officials visiting Washington made a strong case Thursday for US help in securing Taiwan participation in the international organization that sets global commercial aviation standards, and apparently received a favorable hearing from two of the House of Representatives' most senior members.
House majority whip Tom Delay and International Relations Committee Chairman Henry Hyde -- both leading supporters of Taiwan in the US Congress -- met with the Taiwan delegation for more than half an hour each on Thursday to hear about the results of the Dec. 1 legislative and local government elections and discuss US policy toward Taiwan.
The Taiwan delegation brought up the possibility of Taiwan's participation in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and received a favorable response from the congressmen, sources said. The Montreal-based ICAO is an arm of the UN, and, as such, has barred Taiwan from membership ever since Beijing gained a UN seat. However, Taiwan is believed to follow all ICAO standards under the same voluntary compliance arrangement that applies to all ICAO members.
The lack of ICAO membership, which has long rankled Taiwan, gained increased importance after the Sept. 11 Muslim terrorist attacks on the US, in which the terrorists hijacked four airplanes that killed more than 4,000 people at the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania.
The terrorist attacks led to a general tightening of security at airports worldwide -- a practice in which Taiwan's international airports and airlines have joined.
During the meeting with DeLay -- who is slated to become the House Minority Leader next year when fellow Texan Richard Armey resigns -- Eugene Chien (
Delay praised President George W. Bush's Taiwan and China policies, saying that unlike former US president Bill Clinton, Bush does not have a "philosophy of appeasement" toward China.
International Relations Committee Chairman Henry Hyde praised Taiwan's Dec. 1 elections. He said the elections demonstrated that "Taiwan remains the model for a democracy with Chinese characteristics -- and is a beacon of hope for freedom-loving people throughout the Chinese world."
The elections demonstrate, he said, "that Chinese culture presents no insurmountable barriers to democratization," an apparent reference to such Asian leaders as Hong Kong's Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa and (董建華) Malaysian President Mahathir Mohammed, who speak of "Asian values" as being in opposition to democracy fashioned after Western models.
Speaking with reporters after the meeting, Hyde called the session with the Taiwan delegation a "very healthy, pleasant and productive meeting."
"We discussed trade. We discussed the economy. We discussed the very fine role that the Republic of China is playing in terms of joining us in combating terrorism."
He said the election will help improve US-Taiwan relations because it "once more demonstrates what a showcase for democracy Taiwan is."
House Delegate Eni Faleomavega of Samoa, who also attended the meeting with Hyde, said he felt the election is "a demonstration of what democracy is all about."
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