Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian has written to China's UN representative Wang Guangya and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appealing against the global body's recent decision not to make Taiwan a member, Chen's office spokesman said in Taipei yesterday.

The People's Republic of China (PRC) resumed its legitimate status in the UN in 1971 when Taiwan was expelled to honor the one-China policy. The PRC opposes any move that signifies Taiwan's separate status, such as UN membership, because the island is an integral part of China.

Taiwan's leaders, however, has tried repeatedly to enter the UN, with Chen's latest move coming last month.

Chen has challenged the UN's latest rejection by writing to Ban and Wang, who was the UN Security Council president in July, his spokesman David Lee said. The letters reached the UN Headquarters yesterday, he said.

The US does not support Taiwan's membership in the UN and has criticized Chen's plans for UN referendum.

Last month, US Pacific Command Admiral Timothy Keating said Chen's statements on the island's "independence" were not conducive to maintaining peace across the Taiwan Straits.

His remarks reflected Washington's fears over Chen's plan to hold a referendum on the island's entry into the UN under the name of "Taiwan."

Chen applied for UN membership on July 19. The UN Secretariat rejected the application, citing a 1971 resolution that accepts the one-China policy and recognizes the PRC as lawful representative of China in the world body.

Chen's "Taiwan independence" activities are doomed to failure, said a statement issued by the Taiwan Work Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council after the rejection of the application on July 24.

Taiwan's latest application differs from the earlier ones because it was submitted under the name of "Taiwan," rather than its "formal" name of "Republic of China."

This is part of a larger conspiracy by Chen to remove the name China from official institutions and rework textbooks to emphasize a distinct and separate identity for Taiwan.

China sees this as a dangerous step to seek "Taiwan independence."

(China Daily August 2, 2007)