Thu, Jul 04, 2002 page3

• Lions roar over name, flag dispute

  The recent decision by the headquarters of Lions Club International (LCI) to change the name of its Taiwan chapter from ``ROC Lions Club'' to ``China Taiwan Lions Club'' has caused an uproar among its Taiwan members. Denny Hsu, the Taiwan chapter's former chairman, has been among the key players involved in presenting the chapter's case to the group's headquarters. In a recent interview with `Taipei Times' staff reporter Sandy Huang, Hsu talked about the controversy and China's phobia about Taiwan

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  Taipei Times: Could you tell us how this whole matter started, from the beginning?

  Denny Hsu (徐明德): It's been the goal of the LCI to have its world membership exceed more than 1,500,000. Eyeing China's huge population and its potential participation in LCI, the organization is bending to China's pressure with the hope that it can expand its membership there.

  Last June, when the LCI's annual world convention took place in Indianapolis, International President Frank Moore had met with me and Taiwan Chapter 13's district governor-elect to formally inform us that the Chinese authority had decided to grant permission to the LCI to establish sub-organizations in China.

  

  Denny Hsu, former chairman of the Lions Club in Taiwan, displays a protest banner that Taiwan chapter members plan to take to the group's international meeting in Japan next week. The protest banner voices opposition to a proposal that the Taiwan chapter be called ``China Taiwan.''

  PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES

  Foreseeing that membership names and flags would become an issue between us and China as the LCI starts its new clubs in China, it then arranged an informal meeting in Beijing in September for us and the Chinese representatives to negotiate.

  That meeting was held at the office of China's Disabled Persons' Federation. During the meeting, three informal agreements were reached orally between the Chinese representatives and us.

  They were, first, while the Taiwan chapter would keep our LCI District Number as the Multiple District 300, the decision for the Hong Kong and Macao chapters would be based on later discussion, or instead, they would adopt another number.

  

  A protest fan displaying the Taiwan chapter's proposed flag.

  PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES

  Second, both parties, in principle, would not adopt their respective countries' full names -- Republic of China and the People's Republic of China -- but would adopt a name different from the respective countries' full name, which could include a geographical or regional indicator plus part of the respective countries' names.

  Thus, we had then agreed that the Taiwan chapter would consider accepting the name "China Taiwan" if the Chinese chapter were called "Mainland China."

  And third, instead of using each other's respective national flags as LCI membership flags, both the Taiwan chapter and the China chapter would design new membership flags that represent their geographical regions, which would have to be mutually accepted by both parties.

  Those were the three informal agreements that we had made; and we both agreed they would only be made official when we later reported the agreements to our respective government authorities and had their approval.

  In addition, both parties had also agreed during the meeting that all issues discussed should be treated on the principles of equal, fair and mutual respect.

  But we were informed in April by Moore that during the LCI's April board meeting, it had resolved to change our membership name to "China Taiwan," while the two new chapters in China would be called "China Guangdong" and "China Shenzhen."

  We found the board's decision extremely unacceptable and unreasonable.

  First, the LCI made the decision without seeking our consent and second, if the China chapters are allowed to use their geographical name -- "China" -- as their membership names, then the Taiwan chapter should also be allowed to use our geographical name -- "Taiwan" -- as our membership name.

  By addressing the Taiwan chapter as "China Taiwan," the LCI is not placing us on equal and fair footing with China but relegating us as a part of China.

  To express our discontent that we refuse to be addressed as "China Taiwan," I wrote a protest letter to LCI President Moore.

  I also wrote him another letter earlier last month to inform him that during the Taiwan chapter's Multiple District Convention on May 26, the chapter had taken a vote among the members, who approved the use of the name "Taiwan" as the Taiwan chapter's membership name.

  We also wrote an official constitutional complaint letter against LCI's board of directors to the constitutional by-laws committee, which in turn responded that the LCI would review our complaint during its four-day board of director's meeting, which is now taking place in Osaka, Japan, and announce its decision on Sunday.

  TT: What do you think the decision will be? If the LCI insists the membership name will be called "China Taiwan," what will the Taiwan chapter do?

  Hsu: Of course we're hoping for the best and that the LCI will decide to respect the voice of its Taiwan members and accept "Taiwan" as our membership name. But if worse comes to worse and the LCI insists on calling us "China Taiwan," the members of the Taiwan chapter will lead a protest during the LCI's annual world convention, which takes place between July 8 and July 12 in Osaka, Japan, following the board of director's meeting.

  Including me, approximately 580 Taiwan chapter members will attend this world convention in Osaka next week. We have prepared protest banners as well as 2,000 small flags that are our national flag design.

  We've also prepared about 8,000 hand-held fans, printed with our protest messages and our national flag design, to have them ready to distribute to all world convention attendees to inform them of our stand.

  If the LCI still insists on calling us "China Taiwan," we will of course proceed with legal action against LCI for disrespecting and ignoring our voice.

  TT: In the midst of all this controversy, what do you think will be the consequence for other international NGOs that have chapters in Taiwan?

  Hsu: All I can say is that China has a phobia about Taiwan. For example, during our meeting last September, we tossed out the idea of "Taiwan" as our membership name. And you know what the Chinese representatives said? They told us that two years ago, they would have accepted "Taiwan" as our membership name.

  But now that the DPP is in power, the Chinese representatives were concerned that the name "Taiwan" would cause alarm because it suggests an independent nation. China is becoming extremely sensitive now whenever the word "Taiwan" is mentioned.

  Starting with the LCI, one of the world's biggest NGOs, China is now acting aggressively and has stepped up pressure on other NGOs that have Taiwan as a chapter member.

  According to my understanding, several other international NGOs are receiving pressure from China, stating that if they want China to join their organization, they will have to first ask their Taiwan chapter to change its membership name from "Republic of China" or "Taiwan."
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