The UN General Assembly is to be held later this month. On Tuesday last week, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced its strategy: The government plans to promote Taiwan’s bid to join the UN by conducting a series of events in New York. The main purpose is to dismantle the misinterpretation of Resolution 2758. It is believed that by promoting a correct understanding of the resolution in the international community, Taiwan would be able to participate meaningfully in the UN’s system, its mechanisms and a variety of activities.
On Oct. 25, 1971, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 2758 to deal with who was China’s legitimate representative in the UN. Since then, China has been appropriating this misunderstanding as a political means to promote its “one China” principle in the international community. Based on Beijing’s stratagem, the discourse that “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China” has been combined with Resolution 2758, which has been hijacked and deliberately misinterpreted. Consequently, the UN and the resolution have been repurposed into Beijing’s tool for endorsing its “one China” principle.
Taiwan’s application for a UN seat has long been denied, as China and its allies constantly appropriate Resolution 2758 and state that the Taiwan issue was settled back in 1971. As a result, Taiwan has been blocked from UN membership for years. In May, whether Taiwan should be granted observer status was put on the World Health Assembly’s (WHA) agenda for the 76th WHA meetings in Geneva, Switzerland, and a series of “two-versus-two debates” was conducted.
Taiwan’s allies the Marshall Islands and the Kingdom of Eswatini supported Taiwan’s inclusion, but China and Pakistan kept stating that “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” insisting that the issue has been settled by Resolution 2758 and WHA Resolution 25.1. In the end, the UN Office in Geneva decided not to invite Taiwan to the meetings in accordance with General Committee recommendations.
For a long time, the Foundation of Medical Professionals Alliance in Taiwan and many forerunners have taken the initiative and advocated for a reinterpretation. We believe that the 1971 resolution should be comprehensively reviewed and reassessed at the UN General Assembly. These efforts are in line with the US government’s recent strategies. Taiwan has been working in tandem with US endeavors as evidenced by the passing of the Taiwan Allies International Protection and Enhancement Initiative (TAIPEI) Act in 2020 and the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023.
Moreover, the US House of Representatives on July 25 passed the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which aims to clarify facts and rectify misinterpretations while showing US support for Taiwan. These actions by the US are all significant for reviewing the relationship between Resolution 2758 and Taiwan’s representation at the UN.
Through a tacit understanding between Taiwan and the US, as well as a broader and more extensive collaboration between Taiwan and other democracies, it is hoped that the world can obtain a better understanding of Resolution 2758.
In short, this resolution does not concern the people of Taiwan, it has nothing to do with Taiwan’s sovereignty and it should not be an obstacle preventing Taiwan from participating in any international organization. The misunderstanding should be addressed as soon as possible, so that this obstacle to Taiwan’s international participation can be removed. In this way, Taiwan, as a democratic, peace-loving and responsible country, would be able to contribute even more to the world.
Wu Shuh-min is the president of the Foundation of Medical Professionals Alliance in Taiwan.
Translated by Emma Liu
What began on Feb. 28 as a military campaign against Iran quickly became the largest energy-supply disruption in modern times. Unlike the oil crises of the 1970s, which stemmed from producer-led embargoes, US President Donald Trump is the first leader in modern history to trigger a cascading global energy crisis through direct military action. In the process, Trump has also laid bare Taiwan’s strategic and economic fragilities, offering Beijing a real-time tutorial in how to exploit them. Repairing the damage to Persian Gulf oil and gas infrastructure could take years, suggesting that elevated energy prices are likely to persist. But the most
Taiwan should reject two flawed answers to the Eswatini controversy: that diplomatic allies no longer matter, or that they must be preserved at any cost. The sustainable answer is to maintain formal diplomatic relations while redesigning development relationships around transparency, local ownership and democratic accountability. President William Lai’s (賴清德) canceled trip to Eswatini has elicited two predictable reactions in Taiwan. One camp has argued that the episode proves Taiwan must double down on support for every remaining diplomatic ally, because Beijing is tightening the screws, and formal recognition is too scarce to risk. The other says the opposite: If maintaining
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文), during an interview for the podcast Lanshuan Time (蘭萱時間) released on Monday, said that a US professor had said that she deserved to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize following her meeting earlier this month with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Cheng’s “journey of peace” has garnered attention from overseas and from within Taiwan. The latest My Formosa poll, conducted last week after the Cheng-Xi meeting, shows that Cheng’s approval rating is 31.5 percent, up 7.6 percentage points compared with the month before. The same poll showed that 44.5 percent of respondents
India’s semiconductor strategy is undergoing a quiet, but significant, recalibration. With the rollout of India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) 2.0, New Delhi is signaling a shift away from ambition-driven leaps toward a more grounded, capability-led approach rooted in industrial realities and institutional learning. Rather than attempting to enter the most advanced nodes immediately, India has chosen to prioritize mature technologies in the 28-nanometer to 65-nanometer range. That would not be a retreat, but a strategic alignment with domestic capabilities, market demand and global supply chain gaps. The shift carries the imprimatur of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, indicating that the recalibration is
RSS