Ban defends rejecting Taiwan's UN bid

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday defended his decision to reject Taiwan's latest application for UN membership this month, but conceded that the membership question "ultimately" must be decided by the member states, not his office.

In a joint press conference in California with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, however, Ban did not address the question of why the application, in which Taiwan sought to join the world body under the name "Taiwan," was not submitted to the UN General Assembly for debate and a vote.

Asked by a reporter about his decision, Ban cited UN Resolution 2758, the 1971 UN action that switched representation of China from the Republic of China to the People's Republic of China.

`Sole and legitimate'

Ban cited the resolution as "clearly mentioning that the government of China is the sole and legitimate government and the position of the United Nations is that Taiwan is part of China."

"The position of the United Nations is that the People's Republic of China represents the whole of China as the sole and legitimate representative government of China," Ban said. "The decision until now about the wish of the people of Taiwan to join the United Nations has been decided on that basis."

UN membership, Ban said, "ultimately needs to be decided by the member states of the United Nations," Ban said.

However, he did not say why the members were not allowed to vote on the latest application.

From 1993 until this year, Taiwan has applied each year for UN membership under the name "Republic of China," each time unsuccessfully.

Same result

This year, the application used the name "Taiwan," but the result was the same.

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) submitted the latest application in a letter to Ban on July 19.

The UN office of legal affairs returned the letter shortly after it was submitted, effectively rejecting Taiwan's application.

Advocates of UN membership in Taiwan have condemned Ban's and the Secretariat's action, contesting the Secretariat's ability to reject the application unilaterally without submitting it to the UN membership for its deliberation.

Taiwan also argues that Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the Taiwanese representation in the world body.

Additional reporting by CNA