Thursday, July 26, 2007

Say No to the One China Policy!

The Taiwan Thinktank (http://www.taiwanthinktank.org/) held a forum titled “Referendum on UN Bid and Cross-Strait Relations” on the morning of July 25th. Experts and scholars included Dr. Hsu Yung-Ming (Assistant Research Fellow, Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences) and Dr. Tung Chen-yuan (Deputy Chairman, The Mainland Affairs Council) were invited to conduct the discussion and share their perspectives. Dr. Lo Chih-cheng (Director, Department of Political Science, Soochow University, and Member of the Executive Committee, Taiwan Thinktank) was the moderator.

Last week, President Chen Shui-bian submitted a letter of application to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for becoming a member of the UN under the name “Taiwan.” However, on July 24th, the UN rejected Taiwan's application again by re-addressing its adherence to the “one China policy.”

During the forum, Dr. Tung Chen-yuan (Deputy Chairman, The Mainland Affairs Council) indicated that a public opinion poll showed that 79% of the Taiwanese respondents are in support of using the name of Taiwan to apply for UN membership, representing a broad consensus within Taiwan’s society. In his view, the UN’s rejection will create a negative impact on cross-strait relations and cause international problems. “The fundamental issue of the deteriorating situation between Taiwan and China is that China denies Taiwan’s de facto independence and sovereignty,” he said. Dr. Tung argued that China’s irrational acknowledgment will lead to a “lose-lose” situation between the two. Also, he addressed the necessity of destroying the framework of one China policy.

Dr. Hsu Yung-ming suggested that in order to counter and challenge the one China policy, President Chen should initiate a “defensive referendum” to ask Taiwan’s citizens if they can accept the one China principle. “Since the UN rejected Taiwan’s bid for membership, the legitimacy for Taiwan’s government to hold referendums concerning cross-strait issues will be further strengthened,” Dr. Hsu said.

“Taiwan is viewed as an ‘inconvenient truth’ within the international community,” Dr. Lo Chih-cheng indicated. He argued that it is improper for the international community to keep holding onto the one China policy and using this to suffocate democratic Taiwan. Dr. Lo also pointed out that the US is in danger of becoming China’s pawn—“If other countries or international organizations continue to practice and support the one China principle, Taiwan’s democracy will become a twisted and ‘bird-cage’ democracy,” he stressed.

(By YWS, July 25, 2007)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Taiwan is a sovereign state and not a part of China. We support "say no to the one China policy" and hope other countries not to yield under the pressure from China.

Anonymous said...

ja,Taiwan ist ein Staat, nicht ein Teil von China.
we should beware that there are more and more orgaizations adopt "one china policy." , 'cause it threats our rights in the international community.
Our democracy should not be under the pressure of China, 'cause like Dr. Lo said,it's a bird-cage democracy and it's not a real one. There were people trying so hard and paid so much, fighting for Taiwan's democracy,so we should not drive back,right?
say no to the one china policy!

萊納斯隨便聊 said...

Knowing that the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon rejected the application letter of Taiwan by re-addressing so called the “One China Policy” makes me wonder, when has the UN Secretary-General turned to be like a parrot? Only knows to repeat some meaningless words “One China Policy”, “One China Policy” without using his brain.

If Taiwan were a part of China, then Mr. Ban could come to Taiwan by getting his visa in China, but could he? If Taiwan were a part of China, then Taiwan would not be pointed by China with one thousand missiles. I don’t think a UN Secretary-General is unable to tell the simple fact, I think Mr. Ban just repeated One China Policy without conscience.

China is not only a military threat to the world, China also endangers the world’s economies, environment and people’s health, and this threat holds the veto power in the United Nations which is so ironic since the United Nations claims itself an organization to strive for world peace. The United Nations should not be kidnapped by China then it has to ability to strive for world peace.

Anonymous said...

沒錯! 臺灣是個獨立國家而並不是中國的一部分

Anonymous said...

台灣一定要突破一個中國的框架 建立自己的主體性!!