China yesterday slammed Taiwan's 13th bid to join the UN as "doomed to fail" and urged the government to stop seeking independence from China.
"The bid violates the principle of the UN Charter, is unlikely to find any support, and is doomed to fail," foreign ministry spokesman Kong Quan (孔泉) said in a statement.
Launch
Taiwan, recognized by just 26 allies, launched its new bid to join the UN on Friday and asked UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to help keep the peace across the Taiwan Strait.
The question of UN membership has raged since 1949, when Chiang Kai-shek's (
Chiang held on to China's UN seat until 1971, when the General Assembly expelled Taiwan and gave the seat to Beijing.
China, which says the island must be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary, sits on the Security Council, has veto power and many more friends in the UN than Taiwan.
`One China'
In his statement, Kong urged Taiwan to accept the "one China" principle, which states there is only one China, and both Taiwan and the mainland belong to it.
Kong called on the government of Taiwan to stop what he referred to as separatist activities and give up its attempts to push the island towards independence.
"Only in that way, peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits could be safeguarded," he said
Taiwan Foreign Minister Mark Chen (
"The authorities in Beijing must understand their repeated efforts to suppress efforts by Taiwan's 23 million people to participate in the international community will only provoke the people of Taiwan and hurt peace in the Taiwan Strait," he said.
Taiwan was replaced by China in the world body in 1971.
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