Taiwan would again ask its diplomatic allies and like-minded countries to voice support for the nation’s inclusion in the UN system, as the annual UN General Assembly is set to start next week, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday.
The ministry has continued to ask friendly nations to speak up during the upcoming assembly and to send a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during the 77th session of the General Assembly, MOFA Secretary-General Lily Hsu (徐儷文) said.
Hsu made the comment when announcing the ministry’s campaign for UN participation this year in the run-up to the annual event, which is to take place from Tuesday next week to Sept. 27 at the UN headquarters in New York.
Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times
The theme for the 77th session is “A watershed moment: Transformative solutions to interlocking challenges,” Hsu said.
Taipei’s main appeals are to demand the international organization resolve the exclusion of Taiwan’s 23 million people from the UN system so that “no one will be left behind” and Taiwan can work with countries around the world in facing global challenges.
As part of the campaign to promote Taiwan’s appeal to the international community, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) wrote an op-ed titled “Working as one for the global good” for publication in international media, Hsu said.
The article calls on the international community to condemn Chinese military coercion, which has destabilized regional peace and security, while urging the world to accept Taiwan as a trustworthy partner, she said.
The ministry also released a short film, Taiwan’s Helping Hand (界的幫手), calling attention to Taiwan’s contributions to global efforts related to the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, supply chains and human rights.
A number of side events launched by Taiwan’s representative office in New York are to be held during the assembly to promote Taiwan’s inclusion in the UN system, she added.
A delegation of Taiwanese lawmakers is also to visit New York, marking the first time lawmakers would be visiting the city since the COVID-19 outbreak.
The government is also striving to obtain an invitation to the triennial meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) later this month, Hsu said.
The 41st session of the ICAO Assembly is to convene from Sept. 27 to Oct. 7 in Montreal, Canada, with in-person and online attendance.
Taiwan has not attended ICAO meetings since it left the UN in 1971. It was invited to participate as a guest in 2013 under the name Chinese Taipei, but has not been invited since.
As the COVID-19 pandemic eases, governments realize there is a need to step up collaboration on restoring international travel and flight safety, she said, adding that this is a compelling argument for Taiwan’s participation in the ICAO.
The nation would seek support from other countries through its offices abroad and emphasize Taiwan’s importance in aviation security, Hsu added.
The ministry is working with the Civil Aeronautics Administration to seek Taiwan’s participation in the ICAO by persuading like-minded countries and allies, Hsu said.
However, the ministry is not at liberty to clarify specific measures until closer to the session’s commencement, Hsu added.
Additional reporting by Lu Yi-hsuan
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
RSS