Taipei - Taiwan said Wednesday its latest dispute over the
appointment of a Chinese judge to the World Trade Organisation's top
court was resolved after WTO guaranteed that there would be no
impartiality problem in the future.
'After close discussions and communication with WTO authorities,
our concerns over our future rights have been taken into account and
the problem has been resolved,' Economics Minister Steve Chen said.
He was referring to Taiwan's withdrawal of its objections Tuesday
to the appointment of Chinese lawyer Zhang Yeujiao as a judge of the
seven-member WTO Appellate Body after WTO authorities assured that
Taiwan's rights would be guaranteed in future.
Taiwan boycotted the appointment last week amid concerns that
Zhang might follow the instructions of China and fail to maintain
impartiality in dealing with cases involving the island. The boycott
resulted in WTO's top court not being able to function properly.
Chen said Taiwan has no intention of boycotting the appointment
that threatened to paralyse the trade dispute settlement body. 'All
we want is that our rights and interests would not be undermined in
the future,' he stressed.
Phoebe Yeh, a spokeswoman for Taiwan's Foreign Ministry, said
China, a rival of Taiwan, has on many occasions, suppressed Taiwan's
WTO activities. 'This is why Taiwan is concerned about the judge
appointment,' she said.
She said the island dropped its objections after WTO Director-
General Pascal Lamy and Dispute Settlement Body Chairman Bruce Gosper
gave their word that all future cases involving Taiwan would be
handled strictly in accordance with WTO's rules.
Taiwan and China split at the end of 1949 when the Chinese
nationalist government fled to Taiwan to set up a government in
exile.
As Taiwan is recognized by only 24 mostly small nations, China has
barred Taiwan from joining most international organizations and has
demanded the island reunite with mainland China. But Taiwan insists
on its sovereign status and insists on equal treatment in
international organizations.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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