Members of the Taiwan United Nations Alliance are to depart for the US on Friday to promote Taiwan’s membership in the UN ahead of the international body’s general assembly next week.
The alliance will stage a musical promotion event in front of UN headquarters in New York on Saturday next week to highlight Taiwan’s intention to join the organization and meet with US think tanks and politicians to seek support in the US Congress, alliance director Michael Tsai (蔡明憲) said yesterday.
The alliance is to post a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and representatives to the UN to advocate the nation’s inclusion.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
A poll by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation found that 84.8 percent of Taiwanese backed a UN bid, with the support holding at 83.2 percent if China expressed opposition, Tsai said.
“Such strong, non-partisan support is a legitimate reason for Taiwan’s inclusion in the UN,” he said.
Taiwan should not be subject to UN Resolution 2758, according to which the body “expelled forthwith the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石)” from the UN and its affiliated organizations, because Chiang’s regime did not represent Taiwan, Tsai said.
“Taiwanese were dragged along and have been international orphans for 45 years,” he said.
“Taiwan is one of the few nations that do not have UN membership. Even Palestine and the Holy See have an observer status at the UN. Taiwanese will remain forever as international orphans if our voice is not heard,” alliance secretary-general William Lo (羅榮光) said.
Lo said he was indignant when the WHO only sent a couple of officials to Taiwan two weeks after the nation was hit by the SARS outbreak, adding that Taiwan could not afford to be continually excluded from the international community.
The UN bid is part of the transitional justice that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration is pushing, as it was an opinion stifled during Chiang’s totalitarian regime, Taiwan Society chairman Chang Yeh-sen (張葉森) said.
Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lee (李大維), who has said the government would not pursue UN membership, would lose support if he does not change his attitude, Chang added.
The government has to adopt a mild approach toward the UN bid due to international pressure, but non-governmental organizations can aggressively seek a seat at the UN, DPP Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said.
“We have to stand firm against China’s oppression and the greater the oppression, the more support the UN bid will have,” Lo said.
It is the best time for the nation to seek UN membership under the name of Taiwan, as the DPP has control of the legislature and the central government, while tensions between China and its neighbors is escalating, former Taiwan Solidarity Union legislator Chou Ni-an (周倪安) said.
At a private meeting with the alliance director, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) pledged to assist the alliance and said Taiwan’s voice has to be heard, despite the international reality and Beijing’s intervention, Tsai said, adding that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Overseas Community Affairs Council also promised to help.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
Chinese spouse and influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China videos that threaten national security, the National Immigration Agency confirmed today. Guan Guan has said many controversial statements in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” and expressing hope for expedited reunification. The agency last year received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification. After verifying the reports, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and explain her actions. Guan
RSS