The leaders of the EU and of Taiwan’s four diplomatic allies on Friday expressed concern over the stability of the Taiwan Strait and voiced support for Taiwan’s inclusion in the UN during a meeting of the UN General Assembly.
The 77th UN General Assembly which began on Tuesday and ends tomorrow, is its first in-person session since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.
European Council President Charles Michel said the EU calls for maritime security and the preservation of stability in the Taiwan Strait.
Photo: AFP
Michel said the bloc recognizes Beijing’s “one China” principle, but “will not close our eyes to the violations of human rights” in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.
“We want emerging powers, including China, to participate sincerely in the collective efforts for peace and development,” he said.
Michel’s remarks came just two days after US President Joe Biden said that Washington seeks to “uphold peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”
Photo: CNA
Taiwan’s Caribbean ally Saint Lucia also expressed concern over tensions in the Taiwan Strait at the General Assembly.
St Lucian Prime Minister Philip Pierre said the recent escalation of military tensions in the Taiwan Strait had “threatened regional and international peace and security.”
“Saint Lucia calls upon those responsible to observe the UN rules on peaceful settlement of disputes and respect for the territorial integrity and political independence of all countries,” he said.
Pierre also championed “the meaningful participation of Taiwan in the organs and agencies of the United Nations,” adding that Taiwanese “ought to be allowed to continue their chosen path to economic, social and cultural development and to confirm their right to self-determination.”
St Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Terrance Drew stated his country’s “unswerving support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the UN system.”
“Taiwan has been a long-standing friend and a partner for sustainable development,” he said.
He added that the UN would be “stronger” in the company of “those who share our democratic principles and values.”
Tuvaluan Prime Minister Kausea Natano said it is “regrettable” that Taiwan continues to be kept out of the UN system despite “its notable partnerships on a wide range of development issues.”
“Tuvalu strongly supports the readmission of the Republic of China, Taiwan, into the UN as a founding member of the United Nations, and its active participation in UN specialized agencies, including the World Health Organization, the International Civil Aviation Organization and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,” Natano said.
Belizean Prime Minister John Briceno said the Central American nation “calls for Taiwan to take its rightful place among the international community of nations.”
Taiwan is excluded from the international community, although efforts toward global prosperity require the participation of all countries and peoples, Briceno said.
“The outdated policy imposed on Taiwan to promote its exclusion must yield to the greater good,” he added.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare called on “all countries to be sensitive and not inflame tensions that can threaten the unity and security of any country.”
The Solomon Islands and Taiwan severed diplomatic ties in 2019, when the Pacific island state established diplomatic relations with China.
Sogavare defended his government’s decision to switch allegiance, saying it was made “through democratic processes by a democratically elected government.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taipei yesterday thanked the US, the EU and other like-minded nations for their discussion of Taiwan at the General Assembly.
China frequently claims that cooperation with Taiwan contravenes its so-called “one China” principle, and uses countries’ signs of support for Taiwan as justification for military aggression, it said.
However, the attention brought to the issue by the international community during the assembly has made it difficult for China to hide its undermining of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, it said.
“We call on all countries to continue to condemn Chinese aggression, and meanwhile we will continue to strengthen our self-defense capabilities, our security partnership with the US and to cooperate with all like-minded countries,” it said.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
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