[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 115 (Wednesday, September 22, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1675]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       CALLING FOR TAIWANESE REPRESENTATION AT THE UNITED NATIONS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. PETER DEUTSCH

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 22, 2004

  Mr. DEUTSCH. Mr. Speaker, the Republic of China (Taiwan) has once 
again tried to return to the United Nations this fall. In recent years, 
Taiwan has repeatedly expressed its strong desire to participate in the 
United Nations and other international organizations. I am pleased that 
the United States has pledged to support Taiwan's bid to become an 
observer in the World Health Organization and to obtain OAS 
(Organization of American States) observership for Taiwan. Many of us 
in this body have long supported that. In fact, in our Taiwan Policy 
Review of September 1994, we declared the intent to build stronger and 
more active support for Taiwan's participation in appropriate 
international organizations. The United Nations is such an appropriate 
organization.
  The United States has supported Taiwan's membership in the Asian 
Development Bank and the World Trade Organization and its admission to 
the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation Group; Supporting Taiwan's bid 
to return to the United Nations is the next logical step for the United 
States. In doing so, we will demonstrate to the world that the United 
States supports democracy and freedom in Taiwan. We will prove, yet 
again, that the United States is on the side of free and democratic 
people.
  It is indeed grossly unfair to see Taiwan and its 23 million people 
excluded from the activities of the United Nations year after year. 
When SARS hit Taiwan in the spring of 2003, Taiwan, without United 
Nations membership, was denied the World Health Organization's 
expertise and assistance for weeks. Taiwan's doctors had difficulty 
obtaining information about SARS, and as a result, Taiwanese SARS 
patients suffered and waited.
  Taiwan's immense population is also worth noting. Its 23 million 
people constitute a population that's larger than those of two-thirds 
of UN member states. Small states such as Andorra (population 54,000) 
and San Marino (population 23,000) have UN membership while Taiwan is 
denied?
  Furthermore, Taiwan's exclusion from the UN clearly violates the UN 
principle of universality. The UN's mission is to ``reaffirm faith in 
fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, 
in the equal rights of men and women, and of nations large and small.'' 
What of the rights of the 23 million people on Taiwan? Don't we believe 
that the Taiwanese populace counts?
  Taiwan is a democracy. It endorses the UN's ideals of peace, human 
rights, and development. It has been a responsible global citizen, 
contributing to aid projects like relief supplies for Afghan refugees, 
AIDS prevention in Africa, and the dispatch of a rescue team following 
earthquakes to El Salvador in 2001.
  If Taiwan were allowed to return to the United Nations, 
reconciliation and rapprochement between Taiwan and the People's 
Republic of China would help to stabilize the entire Asia-Pacific 
region for generations to come, while making the United Nations a much 
more representative body.
  Mr. Speaker, Taiwan's exclusion from the United Nations is unjust. We 
must speak up for Taiwan, our friend and ally, this year and every 
other until this injustice is corrected.

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