Taiwan completes signature drive for bids to join U.N. agencies

While 16 of Taiwan's diplomatic allies signed a position paper in support of its inclusion in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) , 15 signed another paper petition on Taiwan's participation in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) , according to officials at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in New York.

The two documents are expected to be delivered respectively to the U.N. missions of UNFCCC signatories and ICAO member nations by Thursday, the officials said.

The allies that endorsed the UNFCCC bid are the Solomon Islands, Palau, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the Marshall Islands, Belize, St. Lucia, the Gambia, Sao Tome and Principe, Nicaragua, Tuvalu, Nauru, Swaziland, El Salvador, Burkina Faso, Kiribati, and St. Christopher and Nevis.

These same allies also endorsed the ICAO bid except for Tuvalu, which is not an ICAO member.

The seven allies that did not sign either of the documents are Paraguay, Panama, Guatemala, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Honduras and the Holy See.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Henry Chen downplayed the lack of support from some of Taiwan's allies, saying that Taiwan only "welcomed" rather than pushed allies to endorse the petition.

The lack of outward support from certain allies does not mean, however, they would not support or speak on Taiwan's behalf at the meetings of the specialized agencies when the country's bid for participation is being considered, Chen said.

As the UNFCCC secretariat is located in Bonn, Germany, and the ICAO headquarters is in Montreal, Canada, Taiwan will also have its representative offices in these two countries help push the respective bids, TECO officials said.

They said promoting the UNFCCC bid ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference slated for Dec. 7-18 in Copenhagen will highlight the urgency and importance of Taiwan's meaningful participation in the convention.

Since 1993, Taiwan has been trying -- unsuccessfully, due to Beijing's objections -- to have the United Nations consider the issue of its representation. In 2008, the country shifted its strategy to promoting a bid to "participate meaningfully in the activities of specialized U.N. agencies, " in line with President Ma Ying-jeou's diplomatic strategy that favors a moderate and pragmatic approach.

Following Taiwan's success in its bid to attend the World Health Assembly -- the World Health Organization's decision-making arm -- as an observer for the first time in May this year, the government has recently announced that the UNFCCC and the ICAO will be the country's next targets for such "meaningful participation."

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