Wed, Sep 12, 2001 page3

• Taiwan and the United Nations - Battle for UN admission to be launched again

  Taiwan's UN bid team is feeling encouraged this year in spite of the likelihood of defeat, as international support for Taiwan and its democratic revolution continues to spread

  • By Monique Chu / STAFF REPORTER
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  Taipei's top representative in New York, Andrew Hsia (夏立言), said he's in high spirits despite the predicted failure of Taiwan's ninth UN bid, as the UN steering committee prepares to decide whether to include the "Taiwan issue" on the General Assembly's agenda. (The UN's opening session was abruptly canceled yesterday after the terrorist attack on lower Manhattan that destryed the Twin Towers).

  "The most important thing is that the longer you are engaged in this work, the less frustrated you feel, as many countries have encouraged us to continue, especially after we intensified contacts with the international media this year," Hsia told the Taipei Times on Sunday.

  On Aug. 15, Hsia gave an interview to CNN in front of UN headquarters to voice Taiwan's yearning to re-enter the UN. China's representative to the UN Wang Ying-fan (王英凡), however, rejected CNN's invitation to be interviewed together with Hsia.

  

  Taiwan supporters campaign for the nation's admission on the streets of New York on Sept. 8, 1996.

  FILE PHOTO

  Hsia said Taiwan's UN bid was "not a discussion of the one-China principle but of who represents the 23 million people of Taiwan," adding that "we'll continue the bid as [we're] duty-bound not to turn back."

  Reviewing Taiwan's UN bid from 1993, analysts, incumbent and former foreign ministry officials held mixed views on the factors that triggered the drive, as well as the repercussions of the move both at the international and domestic level.

  It is Taiwan's democratization, as well as the recognition of the change of nature of the UN, that lead to Taiwan's efforts to rejoin the UN in the early 1990s, analysts and former officials said.

  Some DPP lawmakers, including Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), proposed pushing for the UN bid, thus forcing the administrative branch to respond and begin the bid despite recognition of the extreme difficulties involved, said Lin Cheng-yi (林正義), director of the Institute of European and American studies at the Academia Sinica.

  Lin Bih-jaw (林碧炤), senior research fellow at the Taiwan Research Institute, who was involved in related feasibility studies for the foreign ministry in 1993 and 1994, held a similar view.

  As Taiwan gradually democratized, with the public's international exposure increasing, the people realized it's "unfair" for Taiwan to be excluded from the UN and for Taiwan to be excluded from UN events and publications, the former official under the KMT administration said.

  Wu Yu-shan (吳玉山), a political scientist from National Taiwan University, described the government's activities to begin the UN bid as for "domestic consumption" and that the bid was not necessarily in line with "international relations rationality.

  "Because it was not a realistic possibility in terms of international relations, one could not expect a good outcome," Wu said.

  Given Beijing's view of Taiwan as a breakaway province that must be brought under its rule, Taipei's UN bid is seen by critics as an attempt to revise the status quo, including the international community's lip service to Beijing's one-China principle, thus causing Taiwan's repeated failures in its attempts to rejoin the UN.

  But Frederick Chien (錢復), who held the position of ministry of foreign affairs when Taiwan launched its first UN bid, said public insistence was not the only impetus.

  He said the increasing importance of the UN as an international institution dealing with trans-national issues directly related to trade and investment, environmental protection, and education and culture, among others, also served to prompt Taiwan's UN efforts, Chien said.

  The collapse of the Soviet Union also left the US as the world's only superpower. However, the US has largely declined to take up the sole responsibility of handling international disputes and thus lent the UN a greater role in dealing with international tasks, Chien said.

  "The UN in the 1990s is quite different from the UN in the 1970s, and we suffered a great loss by being absent from that organization in the 1990s," said Chien, incumbent President of the Control Yuan.

  Chien cited the 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that deplete the ozone layer as an example. "By virtue of the fact that we are not a member of the UN, we are not permitted to sign that protocol [and] thus [potentially open to] sanctions," Chien said.

  "As the foreign minister, I had to go to each country [that imports these Taiwan-made products that contained the chemicals endangering the ozone layer] to persuade them that Taiwan would voluntarily abide by ? [protocol rules]" so as to avoid any possible sanctions, Chien recalled.

  Chien said the foreign ministry in 1992 presented the UN bid scheme to the then Premier Hao Pei-tsung (郝柏村), but it was rejected by the general-turned premier. In 1993, then Premier Lien Chan (連戰) gave a green light to the ministry's UN bid proposal, thus formally setting in motion the UN bid that autumn.

  Despite Beijing and its supporters' successful effort in blocking the inclusion of Taiwan's case in the General Assembly agenda each year since 1993, analysts agree that Taipei's UN bid is a possible bargaining chip for Taipei in its dealings with its giant neighbor across the Taiwan Strait.

  "The marginal utility [of Taiwan's UN bid] is very low, but I do not oppose its continuation. This is something Beijing dislikes. As long as they have [ill] feelings [towards the bid], it could become a bargaining chip," Wu said.

  Both Lins echoed Wu's view. "This move can put pressure upon Beijing as cross-strait interactions are co-related to Taiwan's UN bid," said Lin Bih-jaw.

  "The timing is not ripe for resumption of cross-strait talks, but I think Taiwan's UN bid can become Taiwan's future bargaining chip, an issue that can be laid on the negotiating table."

  In fact, local media reported on Monday that China in April of 1993 proposed to Chiu Cheyue (邱進益), then-secretary general of China's semi-official Strait Exchange Foundation, to treat Taiwan's UN bid as an issue when top negotiators from Taipei and Beijing met in Singapore in April of 1993, a proposal turned down by Taipei.

  When contacted by Taipei Times on Monday, Chiu said he could neither confirm nor deny the report.

  Chien, however, stressed that an in improvement in cross-strait relations is a key condition that could smooth Taiwan's UN bid.

  Chien recalled that in 1993 Beijing did not fiercely oppose Taiwan's first UN bid as cross-strait ties then were rather "harmonious" given the first meeting of the top negotiators from both sides in Singapore in the same year.

  "The feasibility of this is contingent upon improvement in cross-strait relations. But this move will not damage cross-strait ties," Chien said.

  Hsia said Taiwan could not sit and wait for the goodwill from Beijing; instead, the nation should continue its UN bid to stress its rightful status as a sovereign state and to "create strength" in the international community.

  Some observers pointed out other utilities of Taiwan's UN bid including examination of Taiwan's diplomatic ties and a push for the private sector's involvement in non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

  "By recording which diplomatic allies sponsor the proposal, and which took the floor to support us, Taiwan can use these objective indicators to review substantive ties with its allies," Lin Cheng-yi said.

  Lin Bih-jaw said he has noticed that the government's UN bid has raised the public's awareness in taking part in international activities, thus enhancing NGO moves.

  Even if only for domestic consumption, Taiwan's UN bid is expected to continue, foreign ministry officials admitted. "If we dropped the move all of a sudden, how would the public interpret it? Would that trigger suspicion that we've already abandoned our weapons and show the white flag? I don't think it'll happen," said a foreign ministry official.
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