(Draft)
Ambassador
John D. Negroponte
Permanent Representative of the United States
To the United Nations
November 16, 2003
Dear Ambassador Negroponte:
We, the representatives of the Taiwanese Chamber of
Commerce in North America, respectfully ask you to support Taiwanˇ¦s
membership in the United Nations. Your action will correct historic
injustices, help achieve the UNˇ¦s purposes, and implement Secretary
General Kofi Annanˇ¦s efforts to reform the UN.
Egregious injustices have been perpetrated against Taiwan and its
23 million people. The people of Taiwan have long been denied their right
of self-determination, as guaranteed by the UN charter and by the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Art. 1).
Taiwan,
a vibrant democracy, has been unjustly excluded from the UN
- despite
its long existence as a de jure and de facto sovereign independent
state (23 million permanent residents and a clearly defined territory
ˇV both larger than 40% of UN member states; a sovereign government;
and the ability to enter relations with other states ˇV satisfying
the recognition requirements of the 1933 Convention on Rights and
Duties of States); and
- despite
meeting the two UN membership qualifications: (a) a peace-loving
state; (b) the ability, as the worldˇ¦s 17th largest
economy and the 3rd largest maker of IT products and the
holder of nearly $200 billion in foreign exchange reserves, to carry
out UN obligations (UN Charter Art. 4).
It
is not a glaring injustice and a violation of the principles of the UN
that Tuvalu, a tiny state of atolls in the South Pacific, is a UN member
but Taiwan, a much larger and richer state, is shut out?
The
principle cause of the injustices against Taiwan has been the Peopleˇ¦s
Republic of China, which
- has
claimed Taiwan as a part of China despite the fact that Japan, by the
1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty only ˇ§renounced all right, title and
claim to Taiwan and the Peascadores,ˇ¨ but left Taiwanˇ¦s
international legal status undetermined; and despite the fact that
various Declarations, such as the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1972
Shanghai Declaration, were made without any consultations with, let
alone the assent of, the people of Taiwan;
- has
threatened Taiwan military in violation of Article 2 of the UN
Charter;
- and
has repeatedly vetoed Taiwanˇ¦s efforts to be readmitted into the UN
We
strongly urge you:
- to
assist the people of Taiwan to exercise their right of
self-determinations;
- to
mobilize the UN General Assembly and pressure the PRC
(a)
to respect the wish of the people of Taiwan to determine their own
future;
(b)
to cease its military menace, including over 450 short-range
ballistic missiles targeting the island, threatening the peace, security,
and stability of Asia;
(c)
and not to veto Taiwanˇ¦s UN membership application when it is
taken up by the Security Council;
3.
and to actively support Taiwanˇ¦s membership in the UN, in the
WHO, and in other international organizations ˇV all in Taiwanˇ¦s real
name, not as the Republic of China.
Your
action will correct long historic injustices, help achieve the UNˇ¦s
lofty purposes, and assist Kofi Annanˇ¦s reform efforts to make the UN
become a more universal and effective world organization.
With best wishes,
Very sincerely,
The Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce in North America
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