Taiwan: EU Believes it’s Time for Taiwan to Join the World!
The EU congratulates improving relations, and will encourage China to give in and allow Taiwan to join specialized UN Agencies, minimally as an observer.
Below is an article published by theparliament.comThe EU should encourage China to drop its opposition to Taiwan joining international organisations, a Brussels conference was told on Tuesday.The debate was organised by the European Policy Centre (EPC) on a "new Asian agenda for the EU's external action service."Organised with the Leiden University's International Institute for Asian Studies, the aim was to outline future EU strategy in Asian countries like Taiwan, China and Japan.One of the speakers, veteran EU commentator Stanley Crossick, said the "time was right" for Taiwan to join specialised agencies of the United Nations such as the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)."Whether this is as a full member of an observer is relatively unimportant," said Crossick, a senior fellow at the Free University of Brussels."The important thing is that the EU should encourage China to relax its position towards Taiwanese involvement in such organisations."There has been, of late, a relaxation in relations between China and Taiwan, particularly towards Taiwan's involvement in the World Health Assembly and that is to be welcomed."There is no good reason really why Taiwan should not participate in some capacity in these other organisations. It is only fair that it does and Taiwan certainly has a case when it argues for a minimum of observer status," said Crossick, a member of the Brussels Institute of Contemporary China Studies.Stefano Sannino, deputy DG at the commission's external relations directorate, was another of the speakers at the half-day debate.The roundtable comes ahead of the upcoming EU-Japan summit in Tokyo and an ASEM summit in Brussels in October and comes after MEPs recently adopted a parliamentary resolution "strongly Supporting" Taiwan's efforts to gain admission to the ICAO and UNFCCC.The parliament resolution said Taiwan's role in the two international organisations is "key to the interests of both the EU and the rest of the world."In the resolution, passed by an overwhelming majority of MEPs, parliament gave its support for Taiwan's participation in the two international organizations as an observer.Parliament says in the resolution that it welcomes the efforts made by both Taiwan and China in improving cross-Taiwan Strait relations and adds that the developments will help ensure stability and security in East Asia.It also urges both sides to continue dialogue, enhance substantive cooperation and build mutual trust.Parliament passed two resolutions in February last year extending its support for Taiwan's participation in related international organisations.
The EU congratulates improving relations, and will encourage China to give in and allow Taiwan to join specialized UN Agencies, minimally as an observer.
