US wrong on referendum

Taipei Times

Taiwan's plan to hold a referendum on joining the UN under the name of "Taiwan" has challenged the US position on Taiwan's status.

American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman Ray Burghardt and AIT Director Stephen Young, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs Thomas Christensen, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have criticized Taiwan's move.

The US has publicly opposed Taiwan's referendum, saying that Taiwan is unilaterally changing the "status quo," destabilizing peace in the Taiwan Strait and provoking China. The US opposition is baseless.

First, who defines the "status quo" on each side of the Taiwan Strait?

Second, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) stated clearly during his New Year address that over the past seven years the number of missiles deployed along China's southeast coast aimed at Taiwan has increased fivefold, from 200 to over 1300.

Yet the US has done nothing against the Chinese military buildup against Taiwan -- a unilateral change of the "status quo" in the Taiwan Strait, a "status quo" that the US wants Taiwan to unilaterally adhere to.

Chinese military buildup clearly destabilizes the peace across the Taiwan Strait.

Third, who would believe that conducting a referendum on entering the UN, an internal affair about self-determination, is a provocative act to neighboring countries?

A Zogby poll conducted last September concluded that the vast majority (81 percent) of Americans said the US should respect every country's right to UN membership based on the principles of democracy and self-determination.

US opposition to the referendum goes against the basic American principles of democracy and human rights. Washington is in a very awkward position. It is joining hands with China, an authoritarian country, to suppress a democratic state, Taiwan.

This is entirely contrary to the character and tradition of the US, a country that has shed tears and blood to tirelessly promote democracy and liberty around the world.

What the US has done has helped empower the communist Chinese establishment, not stabilize the Taiwan Strait, with an unabashed attempt to deprive the Taiwanese of their constitutional right to hold a referendum, just because the democracy in Taiwan has become a serious threat to the survival of the regime in China.

This will backfire and threaten the stability and peace in the Far East. The national security and interests of the US will be adversely affected as well.

US opposition to Taiwan's referendum on joining the UN is anti-democratic and interferes with Taiwan's internal affairs.

It is time that Washington listens to the US people and adopts a "one China, one Taiwan" policy.

It is time that Washington practices what it has been preaching by siding with a democratic Taiwan, establishing formal US-Taiwan diplomatic relations and supporting Taiwan's entry into the UN.

Gaines C. Ho

McLean, Virginia