Could Taiwan be included in UNFCCC negotiations?

Abstract

Taiwan has not been able to join the existing global climate regime because of its ambiguous international status. The Kyoto Protocol and the restrictive accession rules of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) preclude Taiwan's membership. The government of Taiwan is preparing to join the post-2012 multilateral climate regime by building its capacity to regulate greenhouse gases and by setting reduction targets. Taiwan currently contributes about 1% of the total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions in the world. It has its share of responsibility in global warming and should be included as part of the solution. Taiwan's participation in the World Health Assembly in 2009 suggests that the People's Republic of China might be willing to accept Taiwan's participation in international treaties as long as membership does not imply statehood. If the post-2012 architecture is designed with flexible accession rules, Taiwan might be able to join despite the unresolved political issues regarding its statehood. The accession rules of the World Trade Organization and the Convention for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean may provide useful precedents on how to design such flexibility.