Thousands Rally for Taiwan's Membership in United Nations
Secretary General's Rejection Triggers Protest
The continuing battle over the right of Taiwan’s self-determination took to the streets in Los Angeles as part of an international protest over recent actions by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. More than 24 local organizations, including the Formosa Foundation, were represented by an estimated 1,500 demonstrators at the Federal Building in West Los Angeles on Saturday, September 8, 2007.
Similar demonstrations were staged in UC Berkeley, San Francisco, Houston and New York. The demonstrations called for the United Nations to admit Taiwan, and were met with overwhelming support from the local community where people honked horns, wore head bands and chanted slogans with the crowd.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon recently rejected Taiwan’s application for membership without submitting it, as required, to the Security Council and General Assembly for a vote. “Taiwan deserves full diplomatic recognition from the United Nations,” says Terri Giles, Executive Director of the Formosa Foundation, a leading proponent of Taiwan self-determination and an organizer of the demonstration. “The notion of ‘status-quo’ is a farce. The situation in both Taiwan and China has dramatically changed and the world needs to deal with today’s realities, not China’s wishful thinking.”
Since 1998, Taiwan has been pushing for a separate UN seat and has struggled for international recognition as an independent democracy. In July, Taiwan’s President, Chen Shui-bian, wrote Secretary General Ban a letter applying for UN membership. Secretary General Ban returned the letter, citing that “the position of the United Nations is that Taiwan is part of China.” The United Nations has no official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty.
The tensions between China and Taiwan find their roots in the 1949 Chinese revolution, when communists led by Chairman Mao claimed control of China. The Republic of China under Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan. The UN seat representing all of China was held by the Nationalists (ROC) for over two decades before being lost in Oct. 1971, when the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was admitted and Taipei was forced to abdicate its seat to Beijing.
Over the past few decades, rapid economic and political development has made Taiwan one of the world’s largest and most dynamic economies and the first indigenous democracy in Asia. Taiwan is now one of the most important nations in democratic Asia. Its population is bigger than 3/4 of the nations in the UN, its GDP larger than Indonesia’s and its technology base second only to Japan’s.
Taiwan is also the US’ eighth-largest trading partner — with two-way trade at US $60 billion last year — and its sixth largest agricultural customer. For more than half a century, Taiwan has been one of the US’ important defense and intelligence partners, first as a bulwark against the former alliance between the Soviet Union and China, later in support of forces resisting communism in Southeast Asia and now as a partner counterbalancing China’s expanding strategic presence in the Pacific.
Former Senator and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole recently wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal, that “President Bush should support Taiwan’s application for U.N. membership.” Dole pointed out that U.S. support for Taiwan’s entry to the UN “should be quickly followed by active or tacit support for Taiwan’s plans for a popular vote on this issue in March 2008.” The former Senator went on to say that “our close Asian friend and ally needs and deserves this recognition and support, which would at the same time advance America’s regional and global interest in promoting democratization.”
