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U.S. nixes U.N. chief's misinterpretation: president

ROC Central News Agency

2007-09-05 23:50:24

    Taipei, Sept. 5 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian said Wednesday the United States has informed Taiwan that it disagrees with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's interpretation of the U.N. Resolution 2758 that Taiwan is part of the People's Republic of China (PRC). "It is obvious that the United States does not agree with, nor accept, either China's or Ban's claim that Taiwan is a part of the PRC, " Chen said while meeting with Harvey Feldman, a senior researcher with the Heritage Foundation, a noted U.S. think tank.

    While rejecting President Chen's letter expressing Taiwan's intention to join the United Nations under the name Taiwan earlier this year, Ban quoted the U.N. Resolution 2758 as claiming that Taiwan is part of the PRC and therefore not entitled to a separate seat in the world body. "Ban's interpretation was not only deviated from the reality but also marked an example of abuse of his power," Chen said.

    None of the 153 words contained in the Resolution 2758 mentioned Taiwan or touched on the issue regarding Taiwan's relations with China, Chen said, adding that the U.S. authorities already informed Taiwan of their disagreement with Ban's biased misinterpretation.

    For his part, Feldman, who had served as U.S. ambassador to Taiwan before Washington switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing from Taipei in 1979, said Ban committed two errors in handling Chen's application for Taiwan's U.N. membership.

    First of all, Ban failed to follow the U.N. rules to pass on Chen's letter to the U.N. Security Council to process Taiwan's membership application in line with U.N. Charter, Feldman said.

    Second, Feldman went on, Ban misunderstood the gist of the Resolution 2758 which was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1971 to address the issue which country -- the People's Republic of China or the Chiang Kai-shek regime -- was entitled to represent China. And the resolution eventually accepted the PRC as the sole representative of China.

    Feldman echoed President Chen's view that the Resolution 2758 was not aimed at addressing issues regarding Taiwan and thus didn't mention Taiwan at all in its text.

    Touching on Taiwan's plan to hold a referendum to allow its people to express their common aspiration for gaining representation in the United Nations, Chen said he hopes all major countries around the world, including the United States, can lend support for Taiwan's U.N. bid.

(By Sofia Wu)

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