The nation's participation in the UN will give it more access to international help in case of an invasion by China, academics said in a seminar yesterday.
"The UN does not guarantee perfect security for all its member states. However, joining the UN definitely helps a country's national security," said Lee Deng-ker (
Lee presented his paper "Taiwan and the UN" at a seminar hosted by the Taiwan New Century Foundation which discussed the country's participation in international organizations, including the UN, World Health Organization (WHO), the WTO and APEC.
Taiwan will not necessarily be safe from a Chinese attack or threat to use force even if it was to become a UN member, "but the possibility of a Chinese invasion would be greatly reduced," Lee said.
UN member status would also strengthen Taiwan's position in negotiations with China, he suggested. A precondition for Taiwan and China to conduct talks is that both sides treat each other equally, Lee said.
"Unfortunately, China has been trying to downgrade our national status by claiming Taiwan is part of its territory," he said.
To lower Taiwan's status, China does everything it can to frustrate its attempts to participate in the UN and other international organizations, Lee added. But Lee said that Taiwan was drawing more international attention to its attempts to join the world body.
Lin Wen-cheng (
In 1994, the US government, in an internal review of its policy towards Taiwan, decided to give Taiwan more help in its efforts to join international organizations, Lin said, but it did not actually take any steps toward that end.
Such action did not occur until George W. Bush took office in 2000 and became actively involved in helping Taiwan's WHO bid, he added.
On June 14, Bush signed into law an Act concerning the participation of Taiwan in the WHO.
In a presidential statement issued upon the signing of the law, Bush said: "The United States fully supports the participation of Taiwan in the work of the World Health Organization, including observer status."
"The United States has expressed publicly its firm support for Taiwan's observer status and will continue to do so," the statement said.
Citing Bush's statement in his paper, Lin said the US and Japan both voted in favor of Taiwan's participation in the WHO as an observer at the World Health Assembly this May.
"There will be more and more countries supporting Taiwan. I believe some day Taiwan will enter the WHO," Lin said.
Wu Lin-jun (
Taiwan's political leaders have been barred from APEC summits. Moreover, Taiwan has been unable to join the organization's meetings on key political issues, Wu said.
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