Lu highlights new ideas to counter Beijing at UN

To fight for international space, Taiwan must make a greater effort to clarify the situation it has been in since 1971, when UN Resolution 2758 was passed to resolve a dispute over China's representation in the UN, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said yesterday.

At a conference held by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission yesterday in Taipei, Lu said that Taiwan should use more effective strategies to fight for UN membership.

She suggested that as many copies as possible of Resolution 2758 be printed and handed out to refute "lies" that the People's Republic of China (PRC) has been telling UN members.

Beijing's message

According to Lu, Beijing is deliberately disseminating false messages to the world, by saying that the resolution concludes that "Taiwan is part of China" and that the "PRC presents Taiwan."

"These two points are lies. UN Resolution 2758 does not say a word about the relationship between Taiwan and China, let alone say that the PRC represents Taiwan," Lu said.

Lu said that the resolution instead simply invalidated Chiang Kai-shek's (蔣介石) regime as representative of China and recognized that the PRC is the only legal representative of China.

"So these are two major lies that China has been telling the whole world. Unfortunately, the central government [when it was] ruled by the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] and some incumbent diplomatic officials have not seen through" this, Lu said.

Lu said it was import to educate the world to let others know that Taiwan is a country that deserves recognition from the international community.

In addition, Lu said that Beijing had claimed that the PRC was one of the countries to ratify the UN Charter on Oct. 24, 1945, the document that established the intergovernmental organization.

Name change

"Ironically, the UN recognizes Beijing's suggestion to alter the original charter by changing [the name] `China' to `PRC.' Isn't it shameful of the UN? Back then, the PRC had not yet been founded," Lu said.

Lu added that the term "China" on the charter stands not for the PRC, which was set up on October 1949, but the Republic of China.

Lu said that it remains necessary to draw a clear line between Taiwan and China because China continues to be hostile toward Taiwan in the international community.

She added that visits to China by opposition leaders, including former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), had brought no benefit to Taiwan.

"It was like dropping two stones into a pond. We did see some ripples. However, their political careers have been in decline since then," Lu said.