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U.S. Congress members call for support for Taiwan's U.N. bid

ROC Central News Agency

2007-11-10 14:04:35

    Washington, Nov. 9 (CNA) A group of 19 members of the U.S. House of Representatives jointly put forth a resolution Thursday in support of Taiwan's membership in international organizations, including the United Nations.

    The Congress members, led by Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.) , have referred the resolution to the Committee on Foreign Affairs and are pushing for its adoption by the House.

    The draft resolution says Taiwan and its 23 million people deserve membership in the United Nations and that the United States should fulfill the commitment it made in the 1994 Taiwan Policy Review to more actively support Taiwan's membership in appropriate international organizations.

    It says the lack of any representation in the United Nations by Taiwan's 23 million people has severely abridged their human rights as citizens of the world.

    Noting that Taiwan has repeatedly expressed its strong desire to join the United Nations, it adds that the international community has reacted positively to Taiwan's desire for international participation, as shown by Taiwan's membership in the Asian Development Bank and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

    A long-time supporter of Taiwan, Garrett took part in a rally organized by some Taiwan expatriate groups Sept. 15 in front of the United Nations Headquarters in New York to promote Taiwan's U.N. bid, during which he urged the world body to include Taiwan and called on the administration of President George W. Bush to support Taiwan's plan to hold a referendum on applying to join the United Nations under the name Taiwan.

    The U.S. government has expressed strong opposition to the planned referendum on the grounds that the apparent pursuit of a name change in the referendum makes it appear to be a step towards changing the cross-Taiwan Strait status quo.

    Taiwan has not been represented in the United Nations since 1971, when the Republic of China's U.N. seat was given to the People's Republic of China in line with U.N. Resolution 2758.

    While the ROC has unsuccessfully tried since 1993 to get the United Nations to consider the issue of its representation, this year marks the first time the country has applied to join the world body under the name Taiwan. However, as on previous occasions, the issue of Taiwan's membership application was excluded from the agenda of the 62nd session of the General Assembly.

(By Jorge Liu and Y.F. Low)

ENDITEM