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Analysis: Taiwan's Losing Battle

Council on Foreign Relations

September 26, 2007
Prepared by: Jayshree Bajoria

Taiwan’s latest bid to enter the United Nations under its own name and hold a national referendum on the issue has generated criticism from both China and Taiwan’s major ally, the United States. U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Thomas J. Christensen called the referendum “ill conceived and potentially quite harmful” (PDF) and said such a step ignored Taiwan’s national security interests for short-term political gain. The United Nations, which decided to give the China seat to Beijing in 1971, has rejected all applications from Taiwan to join, including in a vote this month (AP).

Domestically, support for independence appears high; one hundred thousand people recently marched on Taiwan’s streets in support of the referendum on joining the UN (BBC). Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian has slammed Washington for siding with China (DPA). But State Department spokesman Sean McCormack says Washington is opposed to any initiative that appears “designed to change Taiwan’s status unilaterally” (TaipeiTimes).

Maintaining the status quo in the Taiwan Strait is of great concern for Washington and a highly sensitive issue for China. China has threatened military force if Taiwan declares formal independence and Beijing’s “one China” policy says Taiwan is a part of China that will one day be reunited with the mainland.

Critics have accused Chen of pro-independence moves to improve his party’s standing in the forthcoming elections in March 2008 and attempting to alter the status quo. But others say it is China that has continually sought to alter the status quo by amassing military forces aimed at Taiwan and refusing to engage in any diplomatic talks with the island’s elected government (WashTimes).

Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2007 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.