Chen: Taiwan in fight for justice on U.N.

TAIPEI, Taiwan, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian, in a video conference set up by a U.S. think tank, called Taiwan’s U.N. membership bid “a fight between justice and evil.”

Chen said that in the past Taiwan has made only modest moves toward international participation, the Central News Agency reported.

"This year, however, we decided to alter our strategy and not to again sell ourselves short," Chen said. "We not only want to apply for U.N. membership, we also want to do so under the name 'Taiwan' and in the capacity of a new member state."

The video conference was arranged by the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

The participants included U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., one of the chairs of the House Taiwan Caucus; and Joseph Wu, Taiwan’s representative to the United States.

In Switzerland, a representative of the Taiwanese Environmental Protection Agency was unable to attend a U.N. meeting because the officials there refused to accept his Republic of China passport, The Taipei Times reported.

In Australia, U.S. President George Bush, meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed that the United States wants to continue to status quo on Taiwan. But Bush also argued that the importance of Taiwan’s plan to have a referendum on U.N. membership should not be overblown.