Taiwanese march to back UN bid
At least 100,000 people have marched in Taiwan in support of a government plan to hold a referendum on joining the UN under the name Taiwan.The UN has rejected previous bids from the island to join the body under its official name, Republic of China.
The bids anger Beijing, which sees Taiwan as a breakaway province. China has vowed to use force if Taiwan took steps towards formal independence.
China’s opposition means Taiwan’s bids for a UN seat are certain to fail.
Taiwan can keep talking as if they are a real country and keep having nice marches on hot weekends, but it will amount to nothing but bad publicity and lost time. Taiwan can keep hitting themselves with the head on this until they become stupid but they are never going to be a part of the United Nations.
The march, in the southern city of Kaohsiung, attracted hundreds of thousands of people according to organisers, while police said 100,000 took part.
Switched recognition
Kaohsiung is a power base for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh.
The government intends to time the referendum with the presidential vote next March.
Analysts say the DPP hopes the referendum debate will shore up its support in the elections.
“Give Taiwan a chance to join the UN,” Mr Hsieh told a crowd in Kaohsiung before the march.
Independence-leaning President Chen Shui-bian said Taiwan had “every right to be a full UN member, standing on equal footing with other member states”.
The opposition Kuomintang (KMT) also favours a referendum on joining the UN, but under the island’s official name Republic of China.
The KMT held a separate rally for the central city of Taichung attended by its presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou which attracted an estimated 50,000 people.
The UN switched its recognition from Taiwan to mainland China in 1971.
The entire island is gung-ho about joining the United Nations, but they should have never quit in the first place. Pretending to have the island represent all of China is one thing but quitting when things don’t go your way is another. I really don’t care who made the move to quit the United Nations, but what is done is done. The Taiwanese should just accept the situation and move on because everyone else did.
All these people in the island are doing is just wasting people’s time with unreal expectations and exaggerating the island’s relevance in the world. If the United States doesn’t approve, then how in the hell would the rest of the world approve of a small island joining the United Nations?
China’s President Hu Jintao has warned that the plan could result in a “possibly dangerous period” for the region.
The United States has also warned that the move is unnecessarily provocative and could heighten tensions in the region.
Most UN members have diplomatic ties with China and would not want to anger Beijing by backing Taiwan’s UN application.
Reality bites; so expect Taiwan’s bid to fail miserable as usual regardless of what the results are for the election and whoever manages to win the election this time.
Tim Maddog said,
25 September, 2007 @ 12:08 pm
I’ve got a better headline for this one:
“Taiwan marches frighten Wallace.”
wallaceliu said,
27 September, 2007 @ 10:14 am
Personal attacks won’t do much to me because at the end of the day Taiwan failed to get a seat in the United Nations. Their rallies and marches amounted to nothing but short-term euphoria regardless of the reality
Tim Maddog said,
27 September, 2007 @ 3:55 pm
Wallace-with-the-DPP-logo said:
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Personal attacks won’t do much…
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Since that’s about all you can do, I recommend that you move on from your *own* failures and give up blogging then. Or at least take a long break and learn how to use logic.
wallaceliu said,
28 September, 2007 @ 10:40 am
This blog is about Taiwan, not me. The DPP is a nice logo and all the symbols on this blog represent Taiwan. Regardless of what insults you try slinging at me, Taiwan is not in the United Nations and taxpayer money was wasted on marches and advertising that failed to reach out to the target audience.
Tim Maddog said,
28 September, 2007 @ 10:50 pm
Wallace excused:
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The DPP is a nice logo and all the symbols on this blog represent Taiwan.
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I agree that it’s a nice logo, and I’d bet that even you noticed it actually says “DEMOCRATIC PROGRESSIVE PARTY’ on it. However, you’re clearly not a DPP supporter, and you refer to the Taiwanese people with terms like “them” and “their” and “islanders.” You say it’s a “province… bitch!” Look at all your “Categories” in the sidebar. Don’t pretend to have concern for Taiwan. Your words reveal your character.
You dishonestly spun:
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Regardless of what insults you try slinging at me…
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See my earlier paragraph… and stop provoking me.
You shot aimlessly:
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… taxpayer money was wasted…
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I pay taxes in Taiwan. Do you? Why the “concern”?
Anyway, as the recent Zogby poll indicates, Americans *do* support Taiwan’s participation in the UN, and that support increases greatly with passage of a referendum like the one proposed by the DPP, so those on my side don’t think it was “for naught”:
http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1362
wallaceliu said,
3 October, 2007 @ 10:45 am
The categories are meant to provoke a response and you have fallen hook, line and sinker to the bait.
It doesn’t matter what Americans think because they have no control over the United Nations and the United States doesn’t support Taiwan to begin with. It’s nice to know non-voting Americans love Taiwan, but they can’t do anything to get “UN for Taiwan”
firefox222 said,
6 November, 2007 @ 8:43 am
Lol, laugh my ass off! Taiwan wants a seat in UN, Taiwan is being pathetic! Taiwan is not even a country, just a fucking shitland of China.