A gracious but straightforward Jason Hu, director general of the Government Information Office of the Republic of China on Taiwan, at a luncheon held at the Wyndham Midtown Hotel Sept. 12 pressed for admission of his country to the United Nations from
which it was ejected in 1971 when its seat, including its “permanent” membership on the U.N. Security Council, was taken over by the Chinese communists.
And while pressing his government’s case for admission, he underlined Taiwan’s strength as an economic power, alluding to benefits that world organizations would enjoy if Taiwan is admitted to the U.N. as well as negative economic consequences if the issue is not resolved and tensions persist.
“My 21 million countrymen would like to ask the world why we cannot be accepted by the U.N. Can it be that our staunch resistance to being ruled by a communist regime and our unswerving commitment to building a free and humane democratic political system are the reasons behind our difficult international predicament today?” he queried.
“What do we have to do? Abandon freedom and democracy, embrace communist rule, and become a part of the ‘People’s Republic of China’ so that the world can accept us?”
He also reminded attendees of the luncheon hosted by Georgia Tech and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office here that Taiwan has more than US$100 billion in foreign exchange reserves, is the world’s 14th largest trading entity, the 12th largest investor nation and is America’s seventh largest trading partner.
In addition, he said that Taiwan has invested indirectly some US$18-20 billion in the mainland. “Those are the communists’ figures,” he told GlobalFax, indicating that he felt the amount could be much larger. He said indirect exports to China dropped 7% in July-August due to tensions.