More allies of Taiwan have spoken in support for the nation to join the UN, with Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves saying it is “a continuing absurdity” to exclude Taiwan from global mechanisms such as health, climate change, international civil aviation and Interpol.
Gonsalves made the remarks in his address at the UN General Assembly in New York on Friday.
“Saint Vincent and the Grenadines calls urgently for a lasting peace across the Taiwan Straits and the participation of Taiwan in the specialized agencies of the United Nations,” he said.
Photo: Bloomberg
“It is a continuing absurdity that this country of 23 million people, a functioning democracy with a settled yearning for self-determination, a legitimate institutional expression of the Chinese civilization with first world living standards, a land of peace and ingenuity, cannot be properly accommodated in the global bodies concerned with health, climate change, civil aviation, policing and so forth,” he said.
Belizean Prime Minister John Briceno also spoke in support of Taiwan in his address on Friday.
“The UN’s vision of ‘No one should be left behind’ requires everyone’s participation, yet the UN continues to exclude the key player, the people of Taiwan,” he said. “Taiwan is a global leader in economic prosperity, high-tech innovation, semiconductor technology, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, circular energy and more, all of which are crucial to the security of the global supply chain.”
Photo: EPA
Taiwan contributes to sustainable development goals and assists in the advancement of technology, he added.
Tuvaluan Prime Minister Feleti Teo in his address expressed regret over the continued exclusion of Taiwan from the UN system.
“As a long-standing and reliable development partner of Tuvalu, Taiwan has consistently demonstrated its commitment to international cooperation, making meaningful contributions across a broad range of development sectors,” he said.
Photo: AP
“Tuvalu holds the strong view that the UNGA Resolution 2758 does not preclude Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the UN system and Tuvalu calls for the admission of Taiwan as a member of the United Nations and its specialized agencies,” he added.
SILENCING CRITICS: In addition to blocking Taiwan, China aimed to prevent rights activists from speaking out against authoritarian states, a Cabinet department said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday condemned transnational repression by Beijing after RightsCon, a major digital human rights conference scheduled to be held in Zambia this week, was abruptly canceled due to Chinese pressure over Taiwanese participation. This year’s RightsCon, the world’s largest conference discussing issues “at the intersection of human rights and technology,” was scheduled to take place from tomorrow to Friday in Lusaka, and expected to draw 2,600 in-person attendees from 150 countries, along with 1,100 online participants. However, organizers were forced to cancel the event due to behind-the-scenes pressure from China, the ministry said, expressing its “strongest condemnation”
Taiwan’s economy grew far faster than expected in the first quarter, as booming demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications drove a surge in exports, spilling over into investment and consumption, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. GDP growth was 13.69 percent year-on-year during the January-to-March period, beating the DGBAS’ February forecast by 2.23 percentage points and marking the most robust growth in nearly four decades, DGBAS senior official Chiang Hsin-yi (江心怡) told a news conference in Taipei. The result was powered by exports, which remain the backbone of Taiwan’s economy, Chiang said. Outbound shipments jumped 51.12 percent year-on-year to
DELAYED BUT DETERMINED: The president’s visit highlights Taiwan’s right to international engagement amid regional pressure from China President Willaim Lai (賴清德) yesterday arrived in Eswatini, more than a week after his planned visit to Taiwan’s sole African ally was suspended because of revoked overflight permits. “The visit, originally scheduled for April 22, was postponed due to unforeseen external factors,” Lai wrote on social media. “After several days of careful arrangements by our diplomatic and national security teams, we successfully arrived today.” Lai said he looked forward to further deepening Taiwan-Eswatini relations through closer cooperation in the economy, agriculture, culture and education, as well as advancing the nation’s international partnerships. The president was initially scheduled to arrive in time to celebrate
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) yesterday said the US faced a choice between an “impossible” military operation or a “bad deal” with Tehran, after US President Donald Trump disparaged Iran’s latest peace proposal. Negotiations between the two countries have been deadlocked since a ceasefire came into effect on April 8, with only one round of direct peace talks held so far. Iran’s Tasnim and Fars news agencies reported that Tehran had submitted a 14-point proposal to mediator Pakistan, but Trump was quick to cast doubt on it. “I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but
RSS