The US convinced UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to reverse his "mistaken interpretation" of UN Resolution 2758, in which he maintained that the resolution made Taiwan part of China in the eyes of the world body, sources in Washington told the Taipei Times.
Ban's reversal came after the US conveyed to him that Ban's claim was incorrect, the sources said.
However, well-placed sources on Wednesday denied a report in a Taiwanese newspaper that the US had sent a new letter to Ban's office complaining about his assertions regarding Taiwan's status under UN Resolution 2758.
The report run by the Chinese-language China Times also said the US sent a letter opposing plans by Beijing to introduce a resolution in the General Assembly declaring that Taiwan is part of China as far as the UN is concerned.
The newspaper said that as a result of the US letter, Beijing dropped its plan.
While no letter was sent, "a full explanation of US policy was conveyed to the UN," a source said. "As a result, the UN Secretariat has stopped offering an interpretation which was inconsistent with the facts."
"They were very gracious about it. The UN is not a problem now," the source said.
The US State Department refused to comment on the media reports.
Department spokesman Tom Casey evaded two questions about the issue in his regular daily press briefing on Wednesday.
"Not that I'm aware of," he said in answer to whether such a letter had been sent.
"Certainly I think the UN, including the secretary-general, is aware of our views on the status of Taiwan, is aware of our policies concerning China and there's nothing new in that," he said.
Asked again to confirm whether a letter had been sent, he added only that "this is an issue that I know has been discussed many times over the years."
The reports came on the eve of last night's summit between US President George W. Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao (
In a briefing last week in advance of the APEC meeting, Dennis Wilder, the senior Asian affairs advisor in the US National Security Council, told reporters that the US view is that the status of Taiwan is "undecided," a position starkly contrasting to the Chinese position.
Ban's UN Secretariat has twice this summer rejected Taiwan's UN membership application letters, a decision criticized as a violation of UN rules, which require that such applications be submitted to the UN General Assembly for determination.
Defending that decision in July, Ban claimed that Resolution 2758 "clearly mention[s] that the government of China is the sole and legitimate government and the position of the United Nations is that Taiwan is part of China."
"The decision until now about the wish of the people of Taiwan to join the United Nations has been decided on that basis," Ban said at a press conference.
The State Department is said to have been "pissed" that Ban and the Secretariat had put such an interpretation in writing, as they did in letters to Taiwan rejecting its applications.
In fact, the resolution only "recognizes" that the "representatives of the Government of the People's Republic of China are the only lawful representatives of China" in the UN, and expels "the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) from the place which they unlawfully occupy at the United Nations."
The resolution does not mention Taiwan, who represents it or its legal status.
The resolution could also not predict the development of democracy in Taiwan or the end of the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) claim that the Republic of China government was the sole legitimate government of China and Taiwan, which the KMT continued to maintain after the UN vote.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
The long-awaited Taichung aquarium is expected to open next year after more than a decade of development. The building in Cingshui District (清水) is to feature a large ocean aquarium on the first floor, coral display area on the second floor, a jellyfish tank and Dajia River (大甲溪) basin display on the third, a river estuary display and restaurant on the fourth, and a cafe and garden on the fifth. As it is near Wuci Fishing Port (梧棲漁港), many are expecting the opening of the aquarium to bring more tourism to the harbor. Speaking at the city council on Monday, Taichung City Councilor
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese