Members of the Taiwan United Nations Alliance are to depart for the US on Friday to promote Taiwan’s membership in the UN ahead of the international body’s general assembly next week.
The alliance will stage a musical promotion event in front of UN headquarters in New York on Saturday next week to highlight Taiwan’s intention to join the organization and meet with US think tanks and politicians to seek support in the US Congress, alliance director Michael Tsai (蔡明憲) said yesterday.
The alliance is to post a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and representatives to the UN to advocate the nation’s inclusion.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
A poll by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation found that 84.8 percent of Taiwanese backed a UN bid, with the support holding at 83.2 percent if China expressed opposition, Tsai said.
“Such strong, non-partisan support is a legitimate reason for Taiwan’s inclusion in the UN,” he said.
Taiwan should not be subject to UN Resolution 2758, according to which the body “expelled forthwith the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石)” from the UN and its affiliated organizations, because Chiang’s regime did not represent Taiwan, Tsai said.
“Taiwanese were dragged along and have been international orphans for 45 years,” he said.
“Taiwan is one of the few nations that do not have UN membership. Even Palestine and the Holy See have an observer status at the UN. Taiwanese will remain forever as international orphans if our voice is not heard,” alliance secretary-general William Lo (羅榮光) said.
Lo said he was indignant when the WHO only sent a couple of officials to Taiwan two weeks after the nation was hit by the SARS outbreak, adding that Taiwan could not afford to be continually excluded from the international community.
The UN bid is part of the transitional justice that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration is pushing, as it was an opinion stifled during Chiang’s totalitarian regime, Taiwan Society chairman Chang Yeh-sen (張葉森) said.
Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lee (李大維), who has said the government would not pursue UN membership, would lose support if he does not change his attitude, Chang added.
The government has to adopt a mild approach toward the UN bid due to international pressure, but non-governmental organizations can aggressively seek a seat at the UN, DPP Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said.
“We have to stand firm against China’s oppression and the greater the oppression, the more support the UN bid will have,” Lo said.
It is the best time for the nation to seek UN membership under the name of Taiwan, as the DPP has control of the legislature and the central government, while tensions between China and its neighbors is escalating, former Taiwan Solidarity Union legislator Chou Ni-an (周倪安) said.
At a private meeting with the alliance director, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) pledged to assist the alliance and said Taiwan’s voice has to be heard, despite the international reality and Beijing’s intervention, Tsai said, adding that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Overseas Community Affairs Council also promised to help.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
RSS