Chen Shui-bian and the people of Taiwan can declare anything they want, but that doesn’t obligate other countries to accept it. Like it or not, recognition of a claimed “country” is based on relations of power politics, not abstract values of fairness. For example, U.N. membership for Taiwan in any form would be subject to a veto by security council member China. If this procedure ever gets changed somehow, Taiwan would still have to compete with China in order to sway the votes of hundreds of member nations, which would not approach the subject with anything like disinterested logic.
Under international law, one of the requirements of sovereignty is being able to defend your territory. Unfortunately this basically means that if one country successfully invades another and annexes its territory, that pretty much proves that the other country was remiss in its national characteristics (unless it can find allies to defend it). So Taiwan would likely face a rapid test of its newly-declared sovereignty.
“Under international law, one of the requirements of sovereignty is being able to defend your territory. Unfortunately this basically means that if one country successfully invades another and annexes its territory, that pretty much proves that the other country was remiss in its national characteristics (unless it can find allies to defend it).”
WOWW … Let me remind you that “Under international law”, and except for the US and UK in the last war in Iraq, and the previous one in the Falkland Islands … WAR between two sovereign countries is strickly forbidden under the UN. Only US can act without any go on from the UN.
The criteria of sovereignty is a territory and a government, supported or not by its people. That’s exactly what Taiwan has. It has a territory and a government. That’s it. The UN must accept Taiwan’s application for membership. PERIOD.
[quote=“Screaming Jesus”]
Under international law, one of the requirements of sovereignty is being able to defend your territory. Unfortunately this basically means that if one country successfully invades another and annexes its territory, that pretty much proves that the other country was remiss in its national characteristics (unless it can find allies to defend it). So Taiwan would likely face a rapid test of its newly-declared sovereignty.[/quote]
Actually, there are four requirements.
Territory
Permanent Population
Government
Capacity to conduct international relations
This comes from the 1934 Montevideo Convention, and is generally held to be the requirements for statehood.