EU parliamentarians lend support to bid for UN membership

One members of the European Parliament have given their firm support for Taiwan's campaign to gain entry to the UN, just days ahead of two referendums on the issue that are set to take place alongside Saturday's presidential election.

The parliamentarians, including Vice President of the European Parliament Edward McMillan Scott and Graham Watson, leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, gave their support in a two-page statement that ran in the latest edition of The Parliament Magazine.

In the statement, the members gave their backing to Taiwan's UN campaign while lambasting UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his position on Taiwan's applications to the world body, saying that "the Republic of China with its 23 million citizens is a sovereign state" with its own government and territory that has "never been under the control of the People's Republic of China."

They called for better representation for Taiwan in international organizations and called on the EU and members of the UN to give serious consideration to Taiwan's application.

In an interview with the Taipei Times, Michael Kao (高英茂), Taiwan's representative to the EU, said the statement was significant because the members had made it clear that Taiwan was a sovereign state.

He said they had overcome considerable pressure from China to make their voices heard, adding that it was no coincidence that many of the signatories were from eastern European countries, as they had experience of dealing with "big bullies."

Kao he hoped the show of support from Taiwan's friends in Europe would strengthen the will of the Taiwanese people to take part in the referendums.

The plebiscites, one proposed by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and one proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), have been at the center of much controversy, with the US and several other countries opposing the DPP version, saying it would raise cross-strait tensions.