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Diplomat warns UN over possible cross-strait crisis

A pedestrian in New York walks past a poster that is part of Taiwan's campaign for UN membership. The ads have been posted in the vicinity of UN headquarters. PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUN, TAIPEI TIMES

A Taiwanese diplomat posted in New York yesterday called for the UN to face a possible crisis in the Taiwan Strait, saying that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan should send experts to make a fact-finding tour of the region and present an inspection report to prevent any military confrontation from erupting.

Andrew Hsia (夏立言), director of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York, made the remarks after the International Crisis Group (ICG) said in its latest issue of Crisis Watch that the situation across the Taiwan Strait deteriorated last month.

Despite increasing economic and cultural exchanges as well as civil interactions between Taiwan and China, military confrontation is likely to erupt due to the serious cross-strait military imbalance, coupled with a mutual lack of confidence and absence of political talks, Hsia said in an interview with the Central News Agency.

Hsia noted that Taiwan does not want to see any military confrontation in East Asia and the Taiwan Strait.

He added that it was regrettable that the UN, as an organization supposedly in charge of maintaining international peace and order, has not set up any mechanism for securing peace and stability in the East Asia region.

China passed its "Anti-Secession" Law in March last year to provide a legal basis for its use of force against Taiwan, so the UN should not allow the situation to continue to deteriorate, Hsia said, adding that the organization should play a more active role in safeguarding peace across the Taiwan Strait.

Hsia further said that as it did last year, Taiwan has applied for UN membership this year by submitting simultaneously two proposals on Taiwan's participation and the upholding of regional peace, in the hope that the UN will respect basic human rights and the dignity of the Taiwanese people and help uphold regional peace and stability.
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