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'Name change' key U.S. concern over Taiwan's U.N. bid referendum

ROC Central News Agency

2007-09-12 13:08:09

    Annapolis, Maryland, Sept. 11 (CNA) The name change issue raised in aplanned referendum on Taiwan's U.N. membership bid is a major reason for the United States' strong opposition to the plan, a U.S. State Department official said Tuesday.

    Thomas Christensen, deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said the United States "is not opposed to referendums, " but the referendum being promoted by President Chen Shui-bian concerns the U.S. government "considerably more than would a generic referendum on applying to the United Nations."

    Christensen noted that the draft referendum on applying to the United Nations under the name Taiwan "raises the question of what Taiwan should be called in the international community, " in what could be a "legally-binding popular vote." "It is the apparent pursuit of name change in the referendum, therefore, that makes the initiative appear to us to be a step intended to change the status quo," Christensen said while addressing the Defense Industry Conference organized by the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council in Annapolis, Md.

    The statement marked the latest, and probably the most detailed, public expression of the U.S. position on the referendum plan.

    According to Christensen, the United States has "exhausted every private opportunity through consistent, unmistakable and authoritative messages over an extended period of time" and has found itself "with no alternative but to express our views directly to the Taiwan people."

    He dismissed as "purely legalistic" arguments by the Chen administration that the referendum, even if passed, would not amount to a pursuit of name change, saying that such arguments seem to overlook Taiwan's commitments to the United States. "In the world of cross-strait relations, political symbolism matters, and disagreements over it could be the source of major tensions or even conflict," Christensen said. "President Chen recognized the importance of such 'symbolic' issues in 2000 and 2004 when he promised our president and the international community not to pursue a change in Taiwan's official name, and he has reaffirmed that promise repeatedly," he added.

    Christensen further rejected the accusation that the United States is meddling in Taiwan's democracy by opposing the referendum, pointing out that the United States has for decades been committed to supporting Taiwan's security and democratization. "Friends have an obligation to warn friends who are moving in an unwise direction," he said. "After all, it is not just Taiwan's peace and stability that Taipei's action may threaten," he added.

    Claiming that "bad public policy initiatives are made no better for being wrapped in the flag of 'democracy, '" Christensen warned that the referendum will further limit, rather than expand, Taiwan's international space and urged Taiwan's citizens to "see through the rhetoric and make a sound judgment" if the referendum goes forward unchanged.

    In what Christensen called a "frustrating truth, " he noted that "needlessly provocative actions" by Taipei always strengthen Beijing's hand in limiting Taiwan's space and scare away potential friends who might help Taiwan. "The referendum on applying to the United Nations under the name Taiwan is just such a frontal assault with no hope of changing Taiwan's actual status on the international stage while increasing cross-strait tensions and alienating potential supporters of Taiwan's increased international space," he said.

    Taiwan, known officially as the Republic of China that was expelled from the United Nations in 1971, is bidding to join the world body under the name Taiwan this year, for the first time, and is planning to hold a referendum on the bid alongside the 2008 presidential election.

    Over the past several months, the United States has on many occasions voiced its opposition to the referendum initiative, but Taiwan seems to have no intention to drop the plan.

(By Chiehyu Lin and Y.F. Low)

ENDITEM/Li