Fifteen of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies voiced their support for Taiwan at the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said yesterday.
Ministry spokeswoman Eleanor Wang (王珮玲) said 15 of Taiwan’s 20 diplomatic allies showed their support for Taiwan in their addresses during the general debate, which began on Tuesday last week and concluded on Monday.
A number of nations said that their UN ambassador would sign a letter to be sent to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to show their support for Taiwan, with the number of signatories to be announced soon, she said.
“Each diplomatic ally is using a different approach to voice their support for Taiwan based on an evaluation of their own national interests,” Wang said.
Paraguay, Swaziland, Nauru, Haiti, Burkina Faso, Palau, Tuvalu, Kiribati, St Lucia, the Solomon Islands, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, the Marshall Islands, St Kitts and Nevis, and Nicaragua all voiced support for Taiwan.
El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and the Dominican Republic did not publicly speak for Taiwan, and have not done for the past five years.
Taiwan’s only diplomatic ally in Europe, Vatican City, is not a member of the UN, but a permanent observer that rarely speaks at meetings.
Between 2009 and 2015, an average of 15 to 18 of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies have mentioned Taiwan in their UN General Assembly meeting addresses.
Last year, 13 nations spoke up for Taiwan.
Unlike in previous years, Taiwan made three concrete demands ahead of the UN General Assembly, urging the UN to remember Taiwan’s 23 million people who have been neglected by the international organization for decades.
The three demands were for the UN not to reject Taiwan, in line with the principle of true universality; end measures preventing Taiwanese from entering UN meetings; and to include Taiwan in the UN in recognition of its achievements in realizing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
The Republic of China forfeited its UN membership in 1971 after the passage of a resolution stating that the People’s Republic of China was the only legitimate representative of China to the international body.
The government in 1993 launched an annual campaign to regain a its seat in the UN.
In 2007, during the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration of then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), the government sought UN membership under the name Taiwan, but the campaign failed.
Under the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration from 2008 to last year, the government did not apply to re-enter the UN under the Republic of China name or to apply for new UN membership as Taiwan, instead pursuing meaningful participation in UN-affiliated organizations.
Since taking power in May last year, the DPP administration has adopted a similar approach to that of the previous KMT government, asking allies to speak out at the general assembly in support of Taiwan’s “meaningful participation.”
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
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
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
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
RSS