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UNITED NATIONS — A small Pacific island democracy has finally been accepted into the
family of nations stressing the universality of United Nations membership. But before readers begin thinking that Taiwan has finally made it back to become the 189th member of the UN, read on and ponder. It's the 8,000 souls on the South Pacific isle of Tuvalu who have gained admission and not the 23 million people on Taiwan.
Though a founding member of the UN in 1945, the Republic of China on Taiwan is effectively and crudely barred from readmission on the political pretext that the island is not "legally qualified for membership." Given that China is a divided nation with the powerful People's Republic holding the keys to membership, as well as a devastating veto against admission, it appears that tiny Taiwan is in checkmate.
China's seat in the world body has been occupied by the Beijing communists since Taipei's ignominious ouster from the General Assembly in October 1971. Now
for the eighth consecutive year, fourteen of Taiwan's diplomatic allies from Africa, the Caribbean, and Central America have tried to open free discussion of the unique situation facing Taiwan's 23 million people, who despite extraordinary social, economic and political progress, have been barred from the U.N.
Nonetheless this year more than twenty countries--among them Nicaragua, Grenada, Senegal and Malawi--called for Taiwan's UN membership during the annual General debate. Likewise the Czech Republic stressed the need for true universality in the UN's General Assembly membership, clearly interpreted as a veiled reference to Taiwan's exclusion.
Equally Rep. Bob Schaffer (R-Colorado) and forty members of the U.S. Congress, have called for the Clinton Administration to support Taiwan's U.N. membership.
Beijing's bluster characteristically stifles free discussion and makes Taiwan's admission look like an impossible hurdle. Even if the Taipei government were to get its case into the agenda, it would have to politically pole-vault the Great Wall of Beijing's Security Council veto--no small feat. Given that no permanent members of the UN Security Council such as the U.S. will even touch the topic, the issue appears moribund.
While the communist PRC holds a spurious claim to be the "sole legitimate government of the Chinese people" the case is complicated by the glaring reality of the ROC on Taiwan. Though China unfortunately remains a divided nation, a once divided Germany was admitted into the UN with separate seats in 1973. Until reunification in October 1990, both Bonn and East Berlin, politically poles apart, participated separately in the Assembly. A divided Korean nation was likewise admitted in 1991, when both South and North Korea joined.
For Taiwan facing the PRC dragon is naturally more precarious, especially since President Bill Clinton, while visiting People's China in 1998, signed off to Beijing's political wish list concerning Taiwan including the diktat of No Taiwan independence and No Taiwan UN membership.
The Republic of China on Taiwan fulfills the classic attributes of statehood under international law. Equally, Taiwan's socio/economic achievements are admired globally and are often viewed as a model for developing countries. Moreover, the thriving, if not sometimes chaotic, democracy on Taiwan remains proof that prosperity can thrive in freedom as much as in the political straitjackets espoused in much of East Asia. Earlier this year the longtime opposition Democratic Progressive Party won the Presidency.
Still the political hypocrisy remains as irrational as it does profoundly unfair. As Malawi's Foreign Minister Lilian Patel stated before the Assembly, "We appeal to the Organization's membership to look beyond narrow political considerations and face the geo-political realities on both sides of the Taiwan Straits. The continued isolation of Taiwan does not bode well for the spirit of globalization which, we all acknowledge, has to be all inclusive."
John J. Metzler is a U.N. correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He writes weekly for World Tribune.com.
