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U.S. position on Taiwan's U.N. bid unchanged: official

ROC Central News Agency

2007-08-01 13:10:27

Washington, July 31 (CNA) The United States has not changed its stance concerning Taiwan's bid for membership in the United Nations, a U.S. State Department official said Tuesday.

The official was responding to a reporter's question on whether Washington has put more pressure on President Chen Shui-bian and warned him not to carry on with promoting the bid, in the wake of the submission of a second letter by Chen to the United Nations applying for U.N. membership under the name of "Taiwan." "I'm not aware of any particular conversations that may have been held on this, but U.S. views on these issues are consistent and remain the same, and I don't think that's a surprise to anybody, " State Department Deputy spokesman Tom Casey said during a daily press briefing.

Over the past two months, State Department officials have on a number of occasions stated that the United States does not support Taiwan's membership in international organizations that require statehood, including the United Nations.

Also, the officials said the United States opposes any initiative that appears designed to change Taiwan's status unilaterally, including a referendum on whether to apply to join the United Nations under the name of "Taiwan, " adding that such a plan would appear to run counter to Chen's repeated commitments to Washington.

Taiwan officially filed a membership application with the United Nations July 19 in a letter signed by Chen.

However, the letter was returned July 24 by the U.N. Secretariat, based on Resolution 2758, which was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1971 recognizing the representatives of the People's Republic of China government as "the only legitimate representatives of China to the United Nations" and expelling representatives of the Republic of China on Taiwan.

Taiwan sent another letter to the United Nations July 26 to defend its right to gain membership in the organization.

According to ROC Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang, it is unreasonable for the U.N. Secretariat to misrepresent Resolution 2758 as recognizing that "Taiwan is part of the People's Republic of China."

Huang said the country's bid to join the United Nations under the name of "Taiwan" has nothing to do with changing the status quo or changing the country's official name and is instead aimed at differentiating Taiwan from the People's Republic of China.

At Tuesday's press briefing at the State Department, Casey said "there is a longstanding U.S. policy on that" when asked about President Chen's plan to make transit stops in the United States for his planned visit to Central America in late August.

Washington has repeatedly stated that it handles requests by Taiwan's leaders to stop over in the United States according to the principles of security, comfort, convenience and dignity for the travelers.

However, there has been speculation that Taiwan's plan to push for a referendum on the U.N. issue despite U.S. opposition could affect Chen's transit plan.

(By Chiehyu Lin and Y.F. Low)

ENDITEM/Li