To keep a democracy of 23 million people outside of the UN is an act of discrimination by the world body against the citizens of Taiwan, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Michael Kau (高英茂) said yesterday.
"We sincerely call on the UN to heed the issue of the lack of representation of the 23 million people of Taiwan in the UN system," said Kau at a press conference yesterday afternoon that detailed Taiwan's 10th bid to open the door of the UN.
Taiwan, as a vibrant economy and democracy, should deserve certain representation in the world body, Kau said.
"Such a big entity of 23 million people has been excluded from the UN. How can the UN justify this fact morally and intellectually?" Kau questioned, terming Taiwan's exclusion as the world body's discrimination against the people of Taiwan.
In an unusually low-profile manner, Taiwan has started its UN bid this year, with 12 of its diplomatic allies having pledged to ask the UN to consider the issue of Taipei's representation in the world body.
Twelve of Taiwan's allies sent a joint letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan last Friday, demanding that the 57th UN General Assembly put the issue on the agenda as a "supplementary item," an official with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said.
These countries are Gambia, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Grenada, Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands, St. Vincent, Swaziland, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Chad as well as Sao Tome and Principe.
The controversy over President Chen Shui-bian's (
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
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Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
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