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China not showing good will on Taiwan's U.N. bid: MOFA

ROC Central News Agency

Taipei, Sep. 9 (CNA) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Tuesday that it has not detected good will from China in response to Taiwan's more moderate proposal for participation in the United Nations, but acknowledged that China has toned down its wording in a recent letter sent to the U.N. secretary-general. 

   Asked if the government thought China showed good will in the letter, Paul Chang, director-general of MOFA's Department of International Organizations, said at a regular press briefing that "we, of course, will not think so." 

   Chang said the letter from China's U.N. ambassador Wang Guangya reflected Beijing's standard reaction to the issue based on its long-term stance of opposing any participation by Taiwan in U.N. bodies, even if some parts of the text hinted at the improved atmosphere in Taiwan's relations with China. 

   "We do not think (such a standard reaction) will contribute to the positive development of cross-strait relations, " Chang said. "China should speak and act to reflect the political thinking of 'putting aside differences and seeking a win-win result' as it stipulated in the letter in order to facilitate the positive development of cross-strait relations in the future." 

   Though Beijing's basic stance of opposing Taiwan's bid remains unchanged, Wang said some passages in the letter were new. 

   In the letter dated Aug. 18, Wang noted that relations between Taiwan and China have shown "a good momentum of improvement and development" since March, thanks to the concerted efforts of both sides of the Taiwan Strait, and that both sides should continue to work on further peaceful development. 

   Admitting that there are still some outstanding questions left over from history and that some of them are "hard nuts to crack for the time being, " Wang contended that both Taipei and Beijing "will make joint efforts under the one China principle toward the establishment of a framework for peaceful development of cross- strait relations and strive for new prospects in the relationship." 

   Taiwan submitted a bid to enter the U.N. Aug. 14 through its allies, asking the world body's General Assembly to consider the feasibility of Taiwan's meaningful participation in the U.N.'s specialized agencies. 

   The moderate bid, a change from past efforts to direct join the world body as a member under the names "Republic of China" or "Taiwan," was based on President Ma Ying- jeou's pragmatic diplomatic approach described as "modus vivendi" to seek more international space for Taiwan. 

   Chang said other countries agreed that while China's tone in its letter was milder than in years past, its basic stance of opposition to any role for Taiwan in the U.N. or affiliated agencies had remained unchanged. 

   He reiterated that so far the bid has received good response from the international community, but the foreign ministry will continue to observe how countries that are friendly to Taiwan will express their stance in public arena. 

   Since 1993, Taiwan's allies have been trying to put the issue of Taiwan's participation on the agenda of the U.N. General Assembly on Taiwan's behalf, but Beijing's argument that Taiwan is part of China has always prevailed in blocking the efforts. (By Rachel Chan) Enditem/ls