FAPA Kicks off Taiwan in United Nations Campaign

With Broadly Supported House Resolution

July 27, 2000

The Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) has launched its campaign in the House of Representatives to garner support for Taiwan's participation in the United Nations. Today a bi-partisan group of over 40 House Members introduced a resolution (H. Con. Res. 390) calling on the Clinton Administration to "fulfill the commitment it made in the 1994 Taiwan Policy Review to more actively support Taiwan's membership in appropriate international organizations."

Noting the full maturation of Taiwan's democracy with the peaceful transition of power that took place this year, Representatives decried the fact that the people in Taiwan "are not represented in the United Nations and their human rights as citizens of the world are therefore severely abridged." Hence the resolution declares, "Taiwan and its 23,000,000 people deserve appropriate meaningful participation in the United Nations and other international organizations such as the World Health Organization."

Taiwan has much to contribute to the work and funding of the U.N., the Members indicated, and also could use access to important international resources provided by organizations like the WHO. Taiwan’s present international participation, such as in the Asian Development Bank and APEC, has been well-received by the world community.

Furthermore, the resolution notes that the Clinton Administration has not done enough to implement the promises it made in the 1994 Taiwan Policy Review. The Review states that the U.S. "will more actively support Taiwan’s membership in international organizations accepting non-states as members, and look for ways to have Taiwan’s voice heard in organizations of states where Taiwan’s membership is not possible."

Over the past years, FAPA's campaign for Taiwan’s membership in the U.N. has been markedly different from past attempts by Taiwan’s previous Kuomintang (KMT) Nationalist government in the following three fields:

1. FAPA has always insisted that Taiwan should be a member of the U.N. under the name of "Taiwan," and not under the name "Republic of China."

2. FAPA does not support overturning UN Resolution 2758. In 1971, the U.N. passed Resolution 2758 bringing the People's Republic of China into the UN and expelling the "representatives of Chiang Kai-shek" from the organization. Overturning Resolution 2758, as past KMT efforts have sought to do, would theoretically expel the PRC from the U.N.

3. FAPA has always pushed for new membership for Taiwan rather than a reinstatement of old ROC membership (the ROC was the first signatory of the UN charter when the UN was founded in June 1945).

"We at FAPA hope that the resolution goes to the floor of the House in the first half of September, which would coincide with the annual opening of the U.N. General Assembly. This will send a strong message to the international community that the 23 million people of Taiwan are more than ready, willing and able to fully participate in the family of nations. Of course Taiwan deserves and should ultimately have full U.N. membership. This resolution is, nonetheless, a significant step forward," stated FAPA President Wen-yen Chen.

For more information, contact FAPA at (202) 547-3686.