Just when people were seeing some hope of Taiwan establishing diplomatic relations with the US, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said: “We are not seeking full diplomatic relations with the United States at this moment.”
Wu’s statement attracted criticism from the spokesman of a certain pro-independence organization, who said that if Taiwan tries to join the UN, it is sure to be vetoed by China in the UN Security Council.
The spokesman said that if Taiwan wants to find its place in the international community, it should persuade the US to fully recognize it by establishing diplomatic relations with it.
He continued by saying sarcastically: “It seems that at some point we have turned into someone’s colony, so of course there is no need to establish diplomatic relations.”
“Not seeking to establish diplomatic relations with the US is capitulation; it is having a heart-to-heart with China, currying favor with it and begging for mercy,” he even said.
This criticism has quite a lot wrong with it.
First of all, Article 27, Paragraph 3 of the UN Charter states: “Decisions of the Security Council on all [non-procedural] matters shall be made by an affirmative vote of nine members including the concurring votes of the permanent members; provided that, in decisions under Chapter VI, and under paragraph 3 of Article 52, a party to a dispute shall abstain from voting.”
If Taiwan applies to join the UN after establishing itself as a nation-state, China is sure to argue that Taiwan is a part of its territory, but the above clause means that China, as a party to the dispute, would not be able to use its veto.
Furthermore, if Taiwan wants to take its place in the international community, of course it would be best if it could establish diplomatic relations with the US, but Taiwan must be a nation-state before it can establish official diplomatic relations with most other countries.
The call to “establish a nation-state by using our proper title in the Constitution” shows that those who make such a call also recognize that Taiwan has still not yet established itself as a nation-state.
That being the case, how can they contradict themselves by calling on the US to establish diplomatic relations with a Taiwan that has not even recognized itself? It might be that advocates of using Taiwan’s proper title in the Constitution think that Taiwan is the main theme, and the Republic of China (ROC) is just a name and a symbol, so they are willing to accept the US establishing diplomatic relations with the ROC regime, but if so, why make a big fuss about the nation’s title?
The most incomprehensible thing about the spokesman’s remarks is his criticism of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) government for not establishing diplomatic relations with the US, saying that it is currying favor with China and begging for mercy.
If that were true, why would the government upset China by denying the existence of the “1992 consensus”? Why would it object when Chinese warplanes cross the median line of the Taiwan Strait? Why would it refuse to accept Chinese vaccines?
Why do these Taiwanese independence advocates not think about how to establish a nation-state, instead of repeatedly laying the blame for not being able to break free of the nation’s international environment on the ruling party of the ROC regime, which has no sovereignty over Taiwan and Penghu?
What right does the imposter ROC regime have to take its place in the international community under the name “Taiwan?”
Liu Che-chia is the secretary-general of the Sovereign State for Formosa and the Pescadores Party.
Translated by Julian Clegg
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