Wrapping up their visit to Taiwan yesterday, six ambassadors to the UN -- all from nation's allied with Taipei -- vowed to continue their support of Taiwan's bid to re-enter the UN, despite obstructions from Beijing.
"Justice will prevail," Jose Roberto Andino-Salazar, ambassador and permanent representative of El Salvador to the UN, said of Taiwan's bid to re-enter the world body.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
"We are the true friends of Taiwan ... and you can be assured that we won't be intimidated by any country," Andino-Salazar added.
Eduardo J. Sevilla Somoza, ambassador and permanent representative of Nicaragua to the UN, said the UN would be an "incomplete puzzle" without the representation of Taiwan.
Demonstrating his support, the Nicaraguan ambassador, son of former acting Nicaraguan president Guillermo Sevilla Savasa, who was instrumental in forging ties between Taiwan and Nicaragua, brought with him the photo of his father and late Taiwan President Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) when meeting with the Chinese ambassador to the UN for the first time in New York last year.
"I wanted to show him where I came from," the 48-year-old Nicaraguan ambassador said.
Wrapping up his first trip to Taiwan, Somoza said he felt energized after landing in Taiwan, adding he would continue to assist Taipei with its bid to re-enter the UN.
Crispin Grey-Johnson, Gambia's ambassador to the UN, said "persistent efforts" were to be expected before Taiwan could re-enter the UN or take part in various agencies under the UN umbrella.
Grey-Johnson added that despite China's objections, "We will work hard in achieving that goal."
The Gambian ambassador said that Taiwan's bid to re-enter the UN would "take time," adding that achieving this goal would depend on Taipei's ability to expand its group of friends at the UN.
Pedro Padilla Tonos, ambassador as well as permanent representative of the Dominican Republic to the UN, echoed his Gambian counterpart.
"We will continue working, fighting, insisting on the right of the 23 million people of Taiwan to re-enter the UN," Tonos said.
Jean Alexandre, Haiti's ambassador to the UN, also voiced his support for Taiwan's UN bid.
Meanwhile, when asked whether the African Union, a new group created to formally replace the Organization of African Unity, would adopt a common foreign policy, such as a "one China" policy, at its meeting in July, African ambassadors ruled out the possibility.
"What [ties] each African state establishes with countries outside of Africa remains in the hands of each respective African state," said Malawi Ambassador to the UN Isaac C. Lamba.
The policy toward China or Taiwan would be left up to individual states, Lamba added.
The ambassadors made the statements at the foreign ministry yesterday.
In 1971, the delegation of the ROC, Taiwan's formal designation, walked out of the UN just before other members voted to give its seat to the PRC.
Taiwan's 9th bid to re-enter the UN faltered last August. Beijing is apparently increasing its maneuvers to block Taiwan's bid again this year.
Currently, 186 UN members recognize Beijing while 28 recognize Taipei.
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