The US should restore diplomatic relations with Taiwan, former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton said yesterday, adding that Beijing would not retaliate.
Bolton made the remarks yesterday in a speech on "US global democracy strategy and cooperation with Taiwan" at the Grand Formosa Regent hotel in Taipei. Bolton is visiting Taiwan at the invitation of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy.
BAN KI-MOON
Bolton said that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was wrong to personally reject Taiwan's latest application for membership.
The application should have been referred to the UN General Assembly, he said.
Bolton also criticized Ban for saying Taiwan was "an integral part of the People's Republic of China."
"It is really beyond Ban's authority and therefore illegitimate," Bolton said.
Bolton said that Ban's had been elected as UN Secretary-General with strong support from the US and China, adding that Ban's reaction to Taiwan's application was a test of US-Chinese relations in the UN.
"But I was surprised that Ban went China's way," Bolton said.
Bolton suggested the US government react decisively to Ban's action by restoring diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
"It could avoid the cross-strait situation becoming riskier and more dangerous for the US as well as for the people of Taiwan," Bolton said.
He also said UN Resolution 2758 had been adopted illegitimately and did not reflect reality. In addition, the resolution does not define China's territory or mention Taiwan, he said.
REPEAL RESOLUTION
Bolton suggested that the controversy surrounding Taiwan's status could be solved by repealing Resolution 2758.
"The Resolution 2758 is badly flawed. If the UN General Assembly can pass Resolution 2758, it can modify or repeal it too," Bolton said.
As for that what name Taiwan should use if it joined the UN, Bolton said that was for the people of Taiwan to decide.
"I think flexibility on the name in the past has served it well," he said.
Bolton said that referendums reflect popular choice, calling Washington inconsistent for objecting to a referendum on Taiwan's application to join the UN after having pressured Taipei to implement democratic reforms.
The US should be ashamed for objecting to a people exercising their democratic rights, he said.
PRAGMATIC
Bolton said the US government should restore its diplomatic relations with Taipei because it would serve US interests and reduce its costs in the Asia-Pacific region.
"Recognition would bring stability and certainty -- thus, actually lower the US' costs," Bolton said.
"It would also strengthen the US and the region by signaling to others the strength of the US' commitment to Taiwan and the region," he said.
Recognizing Taiwan would mean acknowledging reality, the best basis for a sound foreign policy, he said.
Bolton believed that Beijing would not act if Washington officially recognized Taiwan as a country.
Beijing cannot afford to break diplomatic ties with the US or launch a war against it, Bolton said.
China appears to have built mockups of a port in northeastern Taiwan and a military vessel docked there, with the aim of using them as targets to test its ballistic missiles, a retired naval officer said yesterday. Lu Li-shih (呂禮詩), a former lieutenant commander in Taiwan’s navy, wrote on Facebook that satellite images appeared to show simulated targets in a desert in China’s Xinjiang region that resemble the Suao naval base in Yilan County and a Kidd-class destroyer that usually docks there. Lu said he compared the mockup port to US naval bases in Yokosuka and Sasebo, Japan, and in Subic Bay
Police are investigating the death of a Formosan black bear discovered on Tuesday buried near an industrial road in Nantou County, with initial evidence indicating that it was shot accidentally by a hunter. The bear had been caught in wildlife traps at least five times before, three times since 2020. Codenamed No. 711, the bear received extensive media coverage last year after it was discovered trapped twice in less than two months in the Taichung mountains. After its most recent ensnarement last month, the bear was released in the Dandashan (丹大山) area in Nantou County’s Sinyi Township (信義). However, officials became concerned after the
The majority of parents surveyed in northern Taiwan favor the suspension of all on-site classes at schools from the junior-high level and below amid a surge in domestic COVID-19 infections, parent groups said yesterday. About 84.4 percent of respondents in a survey of 2,912 parents in northern Taiwan, where the outbreak is the most serious, said they supported suspending classes, the Action Alliance on Basic Education, the Taiwan Parents Protect Women and Children Association, and the Taiwan Love Children Association said. The groups distributed questionnaires to parents in New Taipei City, Taipei, Keelung, Taoyuan and Hsinchu city and county from Saturday morning
DETERRENCE: US National Security Council Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell said cross-strait affairs are on the agenda at the US-ASEAN Special Leaders’ Summit The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday thanked the Czech Senate for passing a resolution supporting Taiwan’s inclusion in the WHO and other international organizations for the second consecutive year. The resolution was passed on Wednesday with 51 votes in favor, one opposed and 11 abstentions. In addition to the WHO, it also called for Taiwan’s participation in the “meetings, mechanisms and activities” of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the International Civil Aviation Organization and Interpol. In its opening, the resolution states that the Czech Republic “considers Taiwan as one of its key partners in the Indo-Pacific region,” while noting its
RSS