Fifteen of Taiwan's diplomatic allies have put forward a motion at the UN urging the world body to deal with Taiwan's membership application according to established procedures, Taiwanese officials stationed in New York said on Wednesday.
The motion, which the allies said they hoped would be included on the agenda of the upcoming annual gathering of the UN General Assembly, was submitted on Tuesday by the ambassadors to the UN from Gambia, Swaziland and Tuvalu -- three of the motion's sponsors.
The other sponsors of the motion were Belize, Burkina Faso, Honduras, Kiribati, Malawi, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Sao Tome and Principe, and the Solomon Islands.
PHOTO: LU CHUN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
The 62nd regular session of the General Assembly is scheduled to open on Sept. 18 at the UN headquarters in New York. The General Committee is expected to meet on Sept. 19 to finalize the agenda of the session.
Taiwan has tried without success to re-enter the UN since 1993. This year marks the first time it has changed tactics by bidding to join the world body under the name of "Taiwan" rather than "the Republic of China."
President Chen Shui-bian (
On July 31, Chen sent a second letter to Ban urging him to reconsider his decision and one to Wang Guangya (
Taiwan has strongly protested Ban's move, claiming that only the Security Council and the General Assembly have the authority to review and decide on membership applications and that the UN Secretariat does not have the power to decide on such matters.
Taiwanese officials have argued that Resolution 2758 neither grants China the right to represent Taiwan at the UN nor addresses the status of Taiwan.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard