Print

Mail

wiki links

Feature: UN alliance group seeking new blood

"The national title is not what is preventing Taiwan from joining the UN -- it's China."

Huang Kwei-bo, diplomacy professor at National Chengchi University

William Luo (羅榮光), 56, has a vision that some say is a pipe dream at best and dangerous at worst.

The Taiwan United Nations Alliance (TAIUNA) vice president is lobbying hard to convince his government to apply for UN membership under the name "Taiwan" in September.

Last month, the alliance called on President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in a letter to use the title "Taiwan" instead of "the Republic of China" during the upcoming UN admission application process.

Under pressure from China, the UN has denied membership to Taiwan under its official name "the Republic of China" every year since 1993.

"We know the mission is tough, but we're gritty," Luo told the Taipei Times.

A meeting in November of the Global Alliance for Democracy and Peace -- a government-backed group of overseas Taiwanese promoting sovereignty -- brought hundreds of Taiwanese retirees from abroad to Taipei to denounce China.

With 80 percent of alliance members aged 50 or older, they're also a graying bunch that some say have lost touch with reality.

"There are two reasons why the alliance lacks relevance: First, its goals are intertwined with touchy sovereignty-related issues. Secondly, it lacks the ability to mobilize the public or impact on key political players," said Huang Kwei-bo (黃奎博), a diplomacy professor at National Chengchi University (NCCU).

Also concerned for its future as its members age, US-based lobbying group the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) started a youth wing in 2003.

"FAPA was established in 1982 ... and it goes without saying that its founding fathers have aged 25 years," FAPA official Coen Blaauw said.

Although FAPA's "Young Professionals Group" is in full swing, compelling young Taiwanese locally to agitate for UN membership or independence is proving especially thorny, Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission (OCAC) Vice Chairwoman Maysing Yang (楊黃美幸) said.

As second-in-command of the agency funding the Global Alliance, Yang said Taiwanese youth don't know what life is like in an authoritarian regime, "nor did they witness Taiwan's exit from the UN in 1971."

"Young people just aren't interested in participating [in organizations like TAIUNA or the Global Alliance]," she said.

Lee Deng-ker (李登科), a diplomacy professor at NCCU, agreed, saying that young adults also lack the time and money to devote to such organizations.

"They have jobs or school to think about," Lee said.

Yang said that "TAIUNA hasn't done enough to recruit young members," while Lee urged the group to campaign on campuses nationwide.

TAIUNA Vice Chairman Tu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲) conceded his group boasted only "two or three youths."

Realizing that their organization lacks young blood, alliance members are now scrambling to recruit young members with campus drives and other programs, Tu said.

"In fact, we're currently establishing an alliance `Youth Team,'" Tu added.

For critics like Huang, the group's goal is problematic in itself.

"The national title is not what is preventing Taiwan from joining the UN -- it's China. The procedure favors China, a permanent Security Council member. Only in extreme cases would an application be considered by the General Assembly after the Security Council nixed it," he said.

Luo, for his part, acknowledged that China would surely block any bid by Taiwan to join the UN. But, he added, what's truly important is that the world sees Taiwanese rallying under the name "Taiwan."

Luo also acknowledged that Taiwan risks drawing the ire of the US -- to say nothing of China -- by seeking to bolster the country's UN admission bid by applying under the title "Taiwan."

Weary of any moves that could upset the "status quo," the US last month came out against the administration's "name-changing" campaign that saw the word "China" replaced by "Taiwan" in the titles of state-run institutions.

"Sometimes, you just have to say, `No' to the US," Tu said, adding that UN membership was too vital to the national interest not to pursue for fear of upsetting relations with Washington.

"Right now, Taiwan without UN membership is like a helpless, beautiful girl who is alone in the night. Without protection, anyone who is tempted to rape her, could," Luo said, referring to the threat of Chinese invasion.

Blaauw from FAPA said: "I applaud the alliance's initiative [to lobby for Taiwan's application for UN admission under the title Taiwan] not because applying under that name ups the chances for the 23 million people of Taiwan to get into the UN, but because Taiwan can tell the world, `We are not some other China -- we are not Free China or some sort of derivation of China; we are not China Lite. We are Taiwan!'"
This story has been viewed 1900 times.