Print

Mail

wiki links

Editorial: Taiwan will never give up

Taiwan's bid to join the UN has been thwarted for the 10th year. Of course, we will never despair. We should try again and again, until the international community fully sees China's unreasonable suppression and diplomatic blockade of Taiwan and supports justice for Taiwan.

As the Beijing regime babbles about its right to represent Taiwan's 23 million people, we also hear more than a few voices in the international community echoing the Chinese claim, describing Taiwan as a region under Beijing's jurisdiction and binding together two places that in fact have been separate for half a century. Such distortions are simply a retelling of the fable about the emperor's new clothes. Everyone knows Beijing's claim is not true but few have the guts to point it out.

This year, 22 out of the 86 countries attending the meeting of the UN General Assembly's General Committee supported the proposal to put the question of Taiwan's membership bid on the assembly's agenda. The US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other important countries maintained a "friendly silence" during the discussion, unlike their open opposition in the previous years. The UK said it welcomed the development of democracy in Taiwan, even though it did not support putting Taiwan's case on the agenda. Both the UK and Italy called for a peaceful resolution to the cross-strait dispute.

Judging from the actions of these countries at the General Committee meeting, we can say that the voice of those countries which see through the fraud of the emperor's clothes is getting louder, but has not yet become the majority opinion. Most countries know the facts -- they simply lack the courage to say them out loud.

For more than 50 years, Taipei and Beijing have gone their own ways on the political, economic, social and cultural fronts. Taiwan's achievements in recent years have made the gap between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait even larger. Taiwan has seen a dramatic political evolution since martial law was lifted in 1987 -- it has held two direct presidential elections and experienced a peaceful transition of political power. Such differences are an anathema to the Beijing government.

China has seen prosperity arrive in some of its regions, thanks to the massive inflow of foreign capital. But its people still lack the economic and political advantages that most people in Taiwan now take for granted. With Asia's largest armed forces under its control, Beijing continues to use its military power to try to intimidate the people of Taiwan. How can the majority of Taiwanese people not reject such hegemonic behavior?

We understand that it will be very difficult for Taiwan to join the UN as long as China is a permanent member of the Security Council. But Beijing managed to break through the Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) regime's blockade in 1971, exploding the myth that the Chiang regime represented China. Ironically, by fabricating a claim to Taiwan, Beijing is today repeating Chiang's stupidity in denying the truth.

Such myths will one day be rejected by the international community. Taiwan will not be shut out of the UN forever.
This story has been viewed 2538 times.