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Taiwan not to bid for UN seat

By Xie Yu (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-05 09:20

Taiwan will drop its annual bid to join the United Nations this time, the first time in 17 years, the island's "foreign ministry" said on Friday.

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Mainland experts saw the move as a sign of "diplomatic truce" that top leaders across the Straits have pushed for since Ma Ying-jeou took office in May last year.

Taiwan failed in its previous 16 bids to join the UN because Beijing opposes the island's participation in any international body that requires statehood as a condition for membership.

"We're not seeking UN membership this year," "foreign ministry" spokesman James Chang was quoted by Reuters as having said on Friday. "The decision is based on our consideration of the overall situation."

A senior official from the island's "ministry" said the warming of cross-Straits ties is "a major reason" for dropping the bid this year.

Taiwan is not trying to join the UN by asking its allies to table a formal proposal in the UN General Assembly this September, she said. It will find other ways and channels to take part in the UN affairs and activities.

Only 23 countries of the more than 200 UN members recognize Taiwan.

Taiwan will discuss the issue with the mainland and Taiwan's "mainland affairs council", she said, and the island's Straits Exchange Foundation will deal with the specific process.

Taiwan applied in April to attend the World Health Assembly (WHA) under the name of "Chinese Taipei".

And after the mainland helped process the application, the island attended the WHA as an observer in Geneva in May. It was its first presence at the WHA after 12 failed attempts.

"Ma wants to keep relations (with the mainland) going, and moving to join the UN is not good for that," said Alex Chiang, associate professor of international politics in Taipei's Chengchi University.

Huang Jiashu, professor in Beijing's Renmin University of China, said Taipei's decision was a move aimed at "diplomatic truce".

During his meeting with Wu Poh-hsiung of the ruling Kuomintang in late May, Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said the two sides "should avoid internal struggle in foreign affairs and work for the interest of all Chinese".

Wu Nengyuan, director of the Institute of Taiwan Studies at the Fujian Academy of Social Sciences, said on Friday: "It (Taiwan's move) is a rational choice because its annual bids for UN membership was a waste of money and manpower."

Normally, Taiwan used to make a public display in September by asking its allies to introduce a formal proposal in the UN General Assembly, which would quickly quash it.

The island's former leader, Chen Shui-bian, organized a referendum for UN membership in the name of Taiwan last February, but only 35.8 percent of the people with voting rights voted, making the referendum invalid.