http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2012/06/20-taiwan-un-winkler
Although Taiwan is considered a state, it is not considered to be sovereign as China maintains that Taiwan is part of its territory. Therefore, although it does have clear set borders and a government that its people recognizes, it is not free of foreign intervention. While Taiwan has continually attempted to achieve recognition and admittance into the United Nations, China has repeatedly blocked their attempts. China has been successful in doing so since not only do they hold a seat within the UN but also one of the permanent members in the security council.
Taiwan has had to attempt more passive approaches at becoming members of the UN. For example, in 1996 Taiwan attempted to be allowed to participate in UN activities due to their mass population while not becoming a member simply so that they would have the ability to be represented. However, again they were unable to do so because of China. Then again, they attempted the same passive approach in 2000, which also resulted in a failure. The most recent attempt in 2007 as far more aggressive in which they requested full membership and recognition from the UN. However, the UN Secretary General an Ki-moon denied the application, stating "]n accordance with [General Assembly Resolution 2758], the United Nations considers Taiwan for all purposes to be an integral part of the People’s Republic of China.” (Winkler, 2012) Therefore, while Taiwan is recognized as a state, it continues to fight to achieve status as a sovereign state, independent from China.
I think a larger threat to Taiwanese sovereignty today is the United States, though Taiwan would prefer this. The UN recognition of Taiwan is, in my opinion, unimportant to sovereignty because UN definitions do not give substantive or tangible benefits to recognized states. Taiwan can still trade in the international market like any other state, and the does not have the strength or resolve to aid Taiwan militarily against possible invaders (like China). The US does control much of the Taiwanese economy; and acting as Taiwan's protectorate against China, the US has more control over the use of violence in and around Taiwan than the Taiwanese government/ army.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that this particular article focuses on sovereignty in terms of recognition by other nations, in this case , through the United Nations. I'm interested to hear any thoughts on internationally recognized sovereignty versus domestically recognized soverignty and which is more important or has more power. I personally believe that though it seems that internationaly recognized soverignty won out when it came to Taiwan, it is more important to have the backing of your nations's people because they can then generate awareness for international recognition. Any thoughts?
ReplyDeleteGrace, I think that the question you have ask begs for an evaluation of the comparative power of internal versus external recognition of sovereignty. Taiwan has "internal" sovereignty, meaning that the the government operates as an independent state and the peoples identify accordingly (even carry passports which identify their origin as from Taiwan) and seems to be functional. Though the struggle with China for formal, external recognition persists, I would argue that Taiwan still manages to act as its own independent state, even if international organizations are still hesitant to identify Taiwan as one. I think a primary example of just how little external recognition can mean is Somalia; while Somalia possesses the external recognition as a state that Taiwan lacks, it lacks the ability to operate as a state internally, and could even be considered a failed-state.
DeleteIf Taiwan is so interested in becoming a state that is independent from China completely, I wonder if they will attempt to have a pseudo-revolution in order to gain their independence. Noah pointed out that Taiwan does not have the strength to gain their independence so I wonder if this will continue to be an issue or the Taiwanese people would loss interest and realize that they have a good situation being the state that they currently are.
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