UN petition letter
Initialization organizations:
Taiwanese Collegian.  Endorse please contact I Chung Lai.
Center for Taiwan International Relations
Formosan Association for Public Affairs




H.E. (name)
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Permanent Representative to the United Nations
Permanent Mission of (name of country) to the United Nations
(address)
New York, New York

Your Excellency:
 
      I am writing to urge you to take immediate action to dissuade the
government of the People's Republic of China from conducting further military
exercises off the coast of Taiwan.  The PRC's recent military exercises have
already posed a serious threat to the safety and security of the 21 million
people of Taiwan.

     The hostility of the Chinese military also presents a grave threat to the
security of the entire Asia Pacific region.  Uncertainty over the resolve of the
United Nations to maintain peace in the Taiwan Strait is causing many countries
in the region to build up arms in order to defend against Chinese aggressions in
the post-Cold War era.

     As you may know, China's actions clearly violate Article 2, Section 4 of
the UN Charter, which states that "All Members shall refrain in their
international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial
integrity or political indepedence of any state."  The Charter also indicates
that the definition of a "state" is not limited only to member countries, but
includes cases such as Taiwan, which have both political and territorial
independence despite lack of membership in the UN.  In addition, in creating a
partial blockade of Taiwan's two largest ports, China's missile exercises also
violate Article 87 of the 1982 Law of the Seas, which guarantees freedom of sea
and air passage.

      The PRC has made no secret of the fact that the goal of its military
exercises is to deter democratic progress in Taiwan, particularly the island's
first-ever democratic presidential election to be held on March 23.  If you
regard freedom and democracy as important values, then I urge you, as one who
can play an important part in safeguarding world peace, to take action and show
that this barbarian bahavior will not be allowed in the new world.

      I thereby urge the United Nations to publicly condemn China's military
aggressions as a serious violation of the UN Charter, of which the PRC is a
signatory, and thus order the exercises to be terminated immediately.
Furthermore, I urge the United Nations to dispatch peacekeepers to the Taiwan
Strait to demonstrate the commitment of the UN to human rights and world peace.
Indecisiveness on the part of the United Nations may send the signal to China,
as well as to other authoritarian countries, that the world no longer cares
about human rights and world peace.
      
      Please act now.  In doing so, the 21 million people in Taiwan, as well as
countless others who struggle for peace and justice and who look to the United
Nations for leadership and encouragement, will always remember you as a great
guardian of justice in the world.

Sincerely Yours,