Marshall Islands President David Kabua on Wednesday called on the UN to rescind its interpretation of Resolution 2758, which bars Taiwan from participating in the international organization.
There is still a “visible crack” in the UN, as it “will never be whole and complete without the meaningful participation of the 23 million people of Taiwan,” Kabua said in his address on the second day of the General Debate at the 78th General Assembly in New York.
He also criticized the UN’s specialized agencies, meetings and mechanisms for what he described as their continuous efforts to close the doors to journalists and visitors from Taiwan.
Photo: AFP
The root of the problem is that the “UN bureaucracy” continues to stick to a “wrongful misinterpretation of Resolution 2758,” using it to bar UN engagement with the people of Taiwan and their democratic system, he said.
“We must have the courage to recognize the reality of the present situation and relegate this outdated dogma to the vaults of history,” said Kabua, whose Pacific island nation has been a diplomatic ally of Taiwan for 25 years.
Taiwan left the UN in 1971. Resolution 2758, which was adopted by the UN 26th General Assembly in 1971 to resolve the issue of China’s representation, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China,” but does not mention Taiwan and does not state that “Taiwan is part of the PRC,” as China claims.
Photo: AFP
King Mswati III of Eswatini, Taiwan’s only diplomatic ally in Africa, also voiced his support for Taiwan’s inclusion in the UN in his address on Wednesday.
“Sustaining the SDGs [Sustainable Development Goals] will require that member states develop innovative financing strategies to ensure that implementation reaches those most left behind,” King Mswati said.
“At this critical juncture, including Taiwan is an essential next step if we are to successfully achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” he said. “We call for Taiwan’s inclusion in the United Nations system, which encompasses participation in meetings, mechanisms and activities that pertain to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.”
Doing so would not only improve global cooperation and partnership, but also emphasize the principle of ensuring that “no one is left behind,” he said.
The day before, Belizean President John Briceno also emphasized Taiwan’s role in helping further the SDGs.
“The SDGs is a collective commitment. Taiwan and other partners are supporting our pursuit, and we call on others to join us in inclusivity, equity and solidarity,” Briceno said.
The 78th General Assembly began on Sept. 5 at the UN headquarters in New York and the General Debate is being held until Tuesday next week.
Separately, Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) in a USA Today op-ed on Wednesday reiterated a call for the UN and international organizations to permit Taiwanese participation.
Detailing the ways in which the UN has misinterpreted Resolution 2758 to shut Taiwan out of the organization and its bodies, such as the WHO, Hsiao wrote that “the people of Taiwan resent this discrimination.”
“There is an urgent need to stop Resolution 2758’s misinterpretation, which has not only damaged the rule of law within the United Nations, but also silenced the voices of the Taiwanese people,” she wrote.
“The United Nations should bear in mind that it is ruled by the peoples, not by authoritarian regimes,” she said, quoting from its founding charter.
“The legitimacy and moral authority of the United Nations to use its power is lawful only when consented to by the peoples over which that political power is exercised,” she added.
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