President wants to communicate with U.S. on U.N. issue
ROC Central News Agency
2007-08-08 16:51:11
Taipei, Aug. 8 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian said Wednesday that he wants to further communicate with the United States to resolve their differences on Taiwan's efforts to push for a referendum on whether to apply to join the United Nations under the name of Taiwan.
Stressing that his "four noes" commitment to the United States will remain in place in the remaining nine months of his term, Chen reiterated that unlike the U.S., he does not think the referendum plan violates this commitment.
Chen made the remarks while receiving Randall Schriver, a former deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, who is visiting Taiwan.
During the meeting, Chen claimed not to know what Washington finds wrong with the referendum plan -- whether it is with the U.N. participation, with the use of the name Taiwan or with the country's attempt to address the issue through a referendum.
Claiming that U.N. membership for Taiwan is the aspiration of the majority of Taiwan's people, Chen told Schriver that 77 percent of the people support the country's bid to join the United Nations.
As to the use of the name Taiwan, Chen said not even the largest opposition party -- the Kuomintang (KMT) -- has "dared" to openly oppose the move and that the KMT-initiated referendum plan does not rule out using the name to join the United Nations, either.
According to Chen, using the name Taiwan does not mean changing the country's official name, and the country has made the choice since the official title of Republic of China is not accepted in the international arena.
Compared with other names, such as Chinese Taipei and the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, which the country has used to join international organizations, Taiwan is the most familiar, powerful and beautiful name preferred by the majority of the country's population, Chen said.
Despite the high thresholds that referendums are required to pass, various political parties have put forth several referendum initiatives designed to be held alongside next year's legislative elections or presidential election, Chen said, calling the development atestimony to Taiwan's democracy.
Challenging the fairness of the U.S. policy of not supporting Taiwan's membership in international organizations in which statehood is required, based on its "one China" policy, Chen asked if any of the three U.S.-China communiques mentions that "Taiwan is a province of the People's Republic of China" or "recognizes" Taiwan as part of China.
Chen said the issue is not addressed in Resolution 2758 adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1971 either, although the world body has cited the resolution as the basis of its rejection of Taiwan's membership application.
Over the past few months, U.S. 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 have noted that the U.S. opposes any initiative that appears designed to change Taiwan's status unilaterally, including the 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.
Chen pledged during his 2000 and 2004 inaugural addresses that if China has no intention of using force against Taiwan, he will not declare Taiwan independence, will not change the official name of the country, will not include the "state-to-state" concept on cross-strait relations in the Constitution and will not promote a referendum to change the cross-strait status quo.
(By Y.F. Low)
ENDITEM/J
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
