|
For Immediate
Release
Contact Iris
Ho @ 202.547.3686
August 30,
2007
For immediate release
Contact Iris Ho @ 202.547.3686
August 30th 2007
FAPA
writes Deputy Secretary Negroponte, urging support for Taiwan entry
into the UN
On
August 30th 2007, the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA)
sent a letter to US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte,
urging the US Administration
to make it clear
that the US does support a free and democratic Taiwan, and help it
to join all international organizations, including the
UN. The Association added “Not doing so
will be a grave mistake.”
The Association’s letter was in response to Mr.
Negroponte’s remarks to Phoenix Television in Honk Kong on Monday,
August 27th 2007. FAPA wrote that it appreciated Mr.
Negroponte’s statement that the US is committed to the defense of
Taiwan through the Taiwan Relations Act, but that it took issue with
the Bush Administration’s opposition to the proposed referendum on
joining the United Nations under the name “Taiwan.”
FAPA emphasized that the proposed referendum
“..underlines the popular desire of the people in
Taiwan to be a full and equal member in the international
community. It is also designed to counter China’s – quite
successful – strategy of isolating Taiwan internationally.”
FAPA wrote Mr. Negroponte that
“By stating the American position in this fashion,
the US Administration is playing into China’s cards and is angering
and frustrating those in Taiwan who have worked long and hard to
achieve democracy on the island. The US is playing into China’s
cards, because the Beijing authorities are manipulating the US
Administration to do their bidding.”
FAPA stated that “Taiwan has changed from being a
repressive KMT fiefdom in the 1970s to a full-fledged democracy of
world citizens.” It added: “US policy
has not kept up with that sea change and still maintains an outdated
“One China” framework dating back to the 1970s.”
The Association concluded: “As citizens of the US,
we expect our government to support democracy around the world, and
in the land of our birth in particular. We believe that the US
needs to nurture that democracy, but the statements coming out of
the State Department have the effect of stifling it.”
FAPA is a grassroots organization of
Taiwanese-Americans. It was established in 1982, is headquartered
in Washington, and has 56 chapters across the United States.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Honorable John Negroponte
Deputy U.S. Secretary of State
Washington, D.C.
20520 Washington, August
30th 2007
Dear Mr. Negroponte,
As American citizens of Taiwanese descent, we would
like to express our views on your August 27th statement
to Phoenix Television in Hong Kong.
While we highly appreciate your statement that the US
is committed to the defense of Taiwan through the Taiwan Relations
Act, and your emphasis on the friendship between Taiwan and the
United States, we take strong issue with your opposition to the
proposed referendum regarding joining the United Nations under the
name “Taiwan.”
We may emphasize that the proposed referendum
underlines the popular desire of the people in Taiwan to be a full
and equal member in the international community. It is also
designed to counter China’s – quite successful – strategy of
isolating Taiwan internationally.
By stating the American position in this fashion, the
US Administration is playing into China’s cards and is angering and
frustrating those in Taiwan who have worked long and hard to achieve
democracy on the island. The US is playing into China’s cards,
because the Beijing authorities are manipulating the US
Administration to do their bidding: as democracy in Taiwan is
growing and deepening, they have less influence over Taiwan. Their
tactic is clearly to scare the US into restraining Taiwan’s
democracy – and, judging by your words and actions, they seem to be
succeeding.
By making statements like this, the US Administration
is also deeply disappointing those who worked for many decades to
bring about democracy to Taiwan. The leadership of the DPP – like
President Chen – had to sacrifice much to make the transition to
democracy happen. You may know that President Chen’s wife is in a
wheelchair. President Chen and others in the leadership were
imprisoned for their political belief in freedom and democracy under
the former repressive Kuomintang regime.
So when the DPP gained power in 2000, they expected
that the United States and other Western nations would welcome this
new and fragile democracy with open arms. Instead, they were
sidelined, ignored, and neglected by the US Administration,
operating under anachronistic “One China” policy guidelines.
“Taiwan” has changed from being a repressive KMT
fiefdom in the 1970s to a full-fledged democracy of world citizens,
who want to be a full and equal member of the international
community. US policy has not kept up with that sea change and still
maintains an outdated “One China” framework dating back to the
1970s.
As citizens of the US, we expect our government to
support democracy around the world, and in the land of our birth in
particular. We believe that the US needs to nurture that democracy,
but the statements coming out of the State Department have the
effect of stifling it.
Membership in the UN is an important issue for the
people in Taiwan, and it would greatly benefit the international
community if it could get a good sense of how the Taiwanese people
view this issue. It would even be a good example for the Chinese to
see how democracy works.
We therefore urge you strongly to make it clear that
the US does support a free and democratic Taiwan, and that it is US
policy to bring Taiwan out of the isolation imposed on it by a
totalitarian regime, and help it to join all
international organizations, including the UN. Not doing so will be
a grave mistake.
Sincerely,
C.T. Lee M.D.
President
cc. Mr. Stephen Hadley, NSC |
