8 Asians

Yes, count ‘em, 15 straight years that the United Nations has rejected the Republic of China, i.e. Taiwan, from entering the United Nations, as reported in the Associated Press today:

“UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A key General Assembly committee rejected Taiwan’s bid to join the United Nations on Wednesday, … St. Vincent and the Solomon Islands — two of Taiwan’s allies — spoke in favor of putting the item on [Taiwan's entry into the U.N. on] the agenda, while China and Egypt spoke against it, Tisovsky said….On Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Taiwan’s application was not accepted for legal reasons, because of the 1971 U.N. resolution that gave China’s seat to the Beijing-based People’s Republic of China…Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian told a videoconference last week that a referendum is the best way to show the world whether the majority of Taiwan’s 23 million people favor the island gaining a U.N. seat.”

 It would be very interesting to see what China would do if Taiwan did hold a referendum, regardless of the outcome. Would China attack Taiwan as it has promised in the past, with the 2008 Beijing Olympics occurring just 5 months later? I’m betting that China would not – there would be such a huge backlash. Then again, who would have thought that the Chinese would have sent in troops into Tiananmen Square on June 4th, 1989?