《TAIPEI TIMES》 Push from US for Taiwan role in ICAO

BIPARTISAN GROUP: US Representative Steve Chabot initiated the letter addressed to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao

/ Staff writer, with CNA, Washington

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US lawmakers have called on their government to push harder for Taiwan’s inclusion in the International Civil Aviation Organization （ICAO）, saying that the nation’s absence endangers millions of travelers who pass through its airspace each year.

A bipartisan group of 41 US lawmakers made the appeal in a letter initiated by US Representative Steve Chabot, cochair of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus, and addressed to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and US Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao （趙小蘭）.

The letter calls on US President Donald Trump’s administration to advocate more strongly for Taiwan’s participation as an observer to the ICAO. The ICAO Assembly is holding its triennial week-long meeting at the organization’s headquarters in Montreal.

The appeal was similar to others previously made by the US Congress in support of Taiwan’s participation in international organizations, which has generally been blocked by China.

In Tuesday’s letter, the lawmakers said that the Civil Aeronautics Administration （CAA） is the exclusive administrator of the Taipei Flight Information Region （FIR）, which last year served 1.75 million flights and 68.9 million passengers.

The Taipei FIR is also home to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, the 11th-busiest airport in the world in terms of international passenger traffic and the fifth-busiest for international air freight traffic, it said.

“We believe excluding Taiwan from ICAO deliberations on topics ranging from aviation security to economic issues delays the implementation of ICAO regulations and prevents the seamless integration of the Taipei FIR into Asia’s civil aviation architecture,” the letter said.

Taiwan’s exclusion further “jeopardizes the proper formulation of changes to this architecture by failing to consider the needs and perspectives of Taiwan’s regulators,” it said.

The letter said Taiwan attended the ICAO Assembly’s 2013 session as a special guest of the ICAO Council president, but that, under pressure from China, no invitation was extended in 2016 or this year.

The lawmakers criticized Beijing for its “self-serving foreign policy” that “not only deprives the international community of Taiwan’s contributions, but also endangers the millions of travelers who pass through the Taipei FIR annually.”

Stressing that aviation safety must not be a political issue, the lawmakers urged Pompeo and Chao to prioritize the matter as the ICAO Assembly meets.

Echoing a G7 foreign minister communique issued in April, which supported Taiwan’s ICAO participation, the lawmakers said that they, too, support the substantive participation of all active members of the international aviation community in ICAO forums, adding that excluding some for political purposes compromised aviation safety and security.

“We believe that the United States and like-minded countries should work to make this aspiration a reality,” the letter said.

Taiwan’s representative office in the US thanked the US Congress for its long-standing bipartisan support for the nation’s participation in international organizations.

The ICAO is the UN body responsible for establishing worldwide aviation policies, with the ICAO Assembly serving as the organization’s decisionmaking body.

In 2013, when Taiwan attended the ICAO Assembly, it was represented by then-CAA director-general Shen Chi （沈啟） under a Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） administration that was relatively friendly to Beijing.

That marked Taipei’s first representation at the ICAO assembly since losing its seat at the UN to Beijing in 1971.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES