Thursday, March 31, 2011

Lawmaker calls for Taiwan's IAEA participation

Taipei, March 31 (CNA) A lawmaker called for Taiwan to join the international nuclear energy watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) amid Japan's ongoing Fukushima nuclear power plant crisis.

Taiwan should actively seek IAEA membership, or at least increased participation in the international body, because the Fukushima crisis has highlighted the importance of nuclear safety, John Chiang, a ruling Kuomintang (KMT) legislator, said in a session of the Legislative Yuan's Foreign and National Defense Committee.

Taiwan has not been a member of the Austria-based organization since its seat in the United Nations (U.N.) was taken by the People's Republic of China in 1971.

"Taiwan's relations with the IAEA should be more than just an inspection destination for the regulatory body, " Chiang said.

As a non-member, Taiwan, which currently operates three nuclear power plants, was not able to attend the IAEA General Assembly and has also been kept out of its technical meetings, which has hurt Taiwan's ability to obtain information on atomic technology and nuclear safety cooperation, Chiang went on.

The legislator urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) to include the IAEA among its high priority targets for international participation, along with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Due to the potentially catastrophic impact of a nuclear crisis, China, which is on the IAEA's 35-member board, is not likely to oppose Taiwan's participation in the organization, Chiang said.

Taiwan has maintained regular contact with the IAEA, Foreign Minister Timothy C.T. Yang said, adding that there are staffers from the Atomic Energy Council posted in Taiwan's representative office in Austria as liaisons. Yang agreed to further review Chiang's proposal.

Taiwan signed an IAEA-ROC-USA "trilateral" safeguards agreement in Vienna in 1964 to transfer the responsibility of safeguarding nuclear materials from the United States to IAEA, according to the IAEA.

Taiwan has continued its role as a strong supporter of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) after its departure from U.N. and IAEA in 1971. In 1998, Taiwan further agreed to a Model Protocol for additional safeguards.

The IAEA had 151 member states as of November 2010. (By Chris Wang) enditem/ly