VICTOR TESUN YU,
Sir, - Vincent Browne brands Taiwan as one of the countries suspected of having breached the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (Opinion, September 18th). This unjust remark runs counter to the facts and tarnishes Taiwan's good name.
Although Taiwan is obstructed by China from acceding to either the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) or the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), its government has from the outset announced its willingness to support the purposes and goals of the conventions and adopted a series of pertinent measures to comply with their provisions. Even though Taiwan is in a precarious situation, with more than 400 Chinese missiles targeting it, Taiwan shall never develop weapons of mass destruction of any sort.
At the military level, the Taiwan government has repeatedly declared its commitment not to develop, manufacture, or use biological and chemical weapons, and the Ministry of Defence has also made repeated announcements that the armed forces of Taiwan do not possess and will not manufacture or use chemical and biological weapons. At the industrial level, Taiwan announced in 1995 that it would comply with the provisions of the CWC and would implement the related control measures at the same time as other countries around the world. In 1997, a CWC Task Force was established to supervise all relevant sectors in Taiwan to prevent the improper proliferation of schedule chemicals, and to disseminate information and provide consulting services.
Taiwan's chemical industry is making great contributions to the benefit of mankind in such areas as chemical trade and scientific and technological co-operation. Given the above facts, it is clear that Taiwan is not breaching either the CWC or BWC, and the international community should help Taiwan to participate in the two international conventions. - Yours, etc.,
VICTOR TESUN YU, Counsellor, Taipei Representative Office, Dublin 2.