Taipei, March 23:

President-elect Ma Ying-jeou indicated today that Taiwan would not hold another referendum on UN membership for at least three years, after two proposals failed to muster enough voters.

Ma, who favours closer ties with China, said it was clear the Taiwanese people wanted to join the world body, but that it had to be done under the right conditions. “We should return to the UN,” Ma told reporters a day after his landslide presidential election victory.

“It is quite clear that the people of Taiwan have a strong intention to be part of the UN.” However “if you are not doing it right, you not only fail to send a message (to the international community) but will certainly cause a lot of problems,” Ma added. He said current legislation meant there could be no other such referendum for three years.

Chen Shui-bian, the outgoing pro-independence president, angered China and the United States by organising a referendum alongside yesterday’s presidential election. Only a little under 36 per cent of voters bothered to cast their ballot, far below the 50 per cent turnout threshold needed to validate any result. Along with the United States, the European Union had also expressed concern at the referendum, fearing it would spike tensions in the region.

A differently-worded version proposed by Ma’s Kuomintang (KMT) party also failed to get beyond 36 per cent. The Democratic Progressive Party called for the island to seek membership under the name Taiwan, while the KMT version, seen as less sensitive, would have sought entry under any mutually acceptable name.

Ma said that doing it Chen’s way meant moving toward formal independence, which was unacceptable both to China and most of the rest of the international community. He also said he had no plans to visit China soon although he promised to improve ties with Beijing during campaigning. “I have no plans to visit China in the near future,” Ma said. “We want

to work on substantive issues. If we are able to do that we will consider whether a high level visit is required,” he said.