Twelve of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies on Tuesday sent a joint letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in support of Taiwan’s request to play a more active role in the international organization.
In the letter, the diplomatic allies called on the UN to respond positively to Taiwan’s three demands, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The three demands are that the UN practice the principle of true universality by not rejecting Taiwan, that it end measures that prevent Taiwanese from entering UN meetings, and that it include the nation in the organization because of Taiwan’s achievements in realizing UN sustainable development goals.
The letter was accepted by UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed of Nigeria and was to be delivered to Guterres later on Tuesday, after the general debate at the General Assembly had concluded on Monday.
The 12 allies that sent the letter were Nauru, Belize, the Marshall Islands, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Swaziland, the Solomon Islands, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Burkina Faso, Haiti and El Salvador.
After handing over the joint letter, Lois Michele Young, the permanent representative of Belize to the UN, questioned why Taiwanese could not step inside UN headquarters, as Republic of China (ROC) passport holders enjoy visa-free travel or travel privileges to 165 countries and territories that are all UN members.
There is no reason Taiwan, the world’s 22nd-largest economy, should be excluded from discussions on global affairs, she added.
Sehon Marshall, the permanent representative to the UN of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, said he plans to continue to persuade and encourage the UN to lift all restrictions on the ROC.
Three other allies — Nicaragua, Paraguay and Honduras — each sent individual letters to the UN Secretariat on Taiwan’s behalf.
Monsignor Tomasz Grysa, deputy head of the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the UN, was one of 10 allies that signed another joint letter delivered to the UN.
Expressing its gratitude to the nation’s allies for their support, the ministry reiterated its appeal that the UN take action to accept Taiwan’s participation in UN-related organizations.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to