Sun, Aug 25, 2024 page1

• Taiwan should call for UN hearing on resolution, Nikki Haley says

  WORK TOGETHER: The US cannot assume it does not need friends, Haley said, calling isolationism unhealthy and echoing Pence’s calls to stand with Taiwan

  • By Fang Wei-li and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer
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  Taiwan and the US should jointly call on the UN to hold a hearing on UN Resolution 2758 and curbing China’s aggression, former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said yesterday in Taipei.

  The UN General Assembly passed Resolution 2758 on Oct. 25, 1971, which states that the People’s Republic of China is the legitimate government of China, which led to it replacing the Republic of China in the UN.

  However, the resolution “never mentioned ‘Taiwan,’” and the UN should not “allow the Chinese Communist Party to hijack a resolution and claim it’s about Taiwan,” Haley told a news conference.

  

  Former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday.

  Photo: Chiang Ying-ying, AP

  Taiwan should request a hearing on Resolution 2758 and “the US should join [Taiwan] in requesting that hearing,” she said.

  “I would call on all free countries everywhere to join them and to at least acknowledge the topic,” she added.

  Haley said she hopes “the [UN] General Assembly, even if it is a sidebar event,” would hold an event on Taiwan, “not just to talk about them getting status at the UN, but to talk about the harassment they’re facing every single day from China and what the UN countries think that Taiwan should do about it.”

  Although hearings are not part of the UN General Assembly, conducting such an event would raise global awareness of the issues surrounding Taiwan’s international status and the need to address Beijing’s incessant provocations, she said.

  Turning a blind eye to the difficult situation facing 24 million Taiwanese is unbecoming for the UN as an organization that prides itself on upholding human rights, Haley said.

  As the UN granted Palestine nonmember observer status, it should have no reason to oppose doing the same for Taiwan, a nation deserving of becoming a full member, she said.

  The UN might have failed to condemn the harm Beijing inflicted on millions, but the world can still thank Taiwan for alerting the world to the COVID-19 pandemic and helping to fight it, she said.

  The support for Taiwan and confronting the threat posed by China are among the few issues the US Republican and Democratic parties agree on, a consensus Haley said she hopes can be transformed into action.

  In an opinion article in the Washington Post, former US vice president Mike Pence warned against the rise of isolationism and said that the US must not allow Taiwan to fall.

  Haley, who had run against former US president Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination earlier this year, echoed Pence’s remarks, saying that the US cannot arrogantly assume it does not need friends, and making friends means being a friend.

  “I don’t think the isolationist approach is healthy. I think America can never sit in a bubble and think we won’t be affected,” she said.

  Being the leading voice and power in global affairs means the US has a responsibility to ensure world affairs develop in a positive direction, she said.

  During her campaign, Haley called Trump unelectable and unfit for office, but last month she urged her supporters to vote for the former president. He faces the Democratic Party’s candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, in the Nov. 5 election.

  Trump unnerved Taiwan in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek published last month, saying that “Taiwan should pay us for defense.”

  The US is Taiwan’s most important international backer and weapons supplier. Despite lacking formal diplomatic ties, Washington is bound by the Taiwan Relations Act to provide the means for Taiwan’s defense.

  “What I want to see the Republican Party talk about is freedom, standing with our allies and making sure that we show strength around the world,” Haley said yesterday. “We don’t want to see communist China win, we don’t want to see Russia win, we don’t want to see Iran or North Korea win.”

  Additional reporting by Reuters and CNA
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