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.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods