The nation’s campaign to rejoin the UN this year would highlight its achievements in containing COVID-19 and its commitment to multilateralism, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday.
The 75th session of the UN General Assembly is slated to open on Sept. 15 at the UN headquarters in New York City, with its general debate set to start on Sept. 22 under the theme “The Future We Want, the UN We Need: Reaffirming Our Collective Commitment to Multilateralism.”
The ministry’s campaign would highlight Taiwan’s willingness and ability to join the UN bid to curb the COVID-19 pandemic and revive the global economy through multilateral efforts, MOFA Secretary-General Lily Hsu (徐儷文) told a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
It would also reiterate the nation’s three appeals: The UN should take immediate action to address the improper exclusion of 23.5 million Taiwanese from UN institutions, rectify its improper practices of depriving Taiwanese and the Taiwanese media of their rights to visit or attend events at UN premises; and ensure Taiwan can participate in mechanisms and events related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals through equal and dignified means, Hsu said.
As usual, the ministry would ask the nation’s diplomatic allies to speak up for Taiwan during the debate and write to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, she said.
The ministry would also hold General Assembly-related events at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in New York City, said Hsu, who was director-general of the TECO in New York before assumed her current post, adding that most of the events would be held virtually due to COVID-19-related crowd size restrictions.
On Sept. 23 last year, Hsu was invited by the US to attend a speech by US President Donald Trump at the UN headquarters, which was regarded as a diplomatic breakthrough in Taiwan.
TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT: A US Air Force KC-135 tanker came less than 1,000 feet of an EVA plane and was warned off by a Taipei air traffic controller, a report said A US aerial refueling aircraft came very close to an EVA Airways jet in the airspace over southern Taiwan, a military aviation news Web site said. A report published by Alert 5 on Tuesday said that automatic dependent surveillance–broadcast (ADS-B) data captured by planfinder.net on Wednesday last week showed a US Air Force KC-135 tanker “coming less than 1,000 feet [305m] vertically with EVA Air flight BR225 as both aircraft crossed path south of Taiwan” that morning. The report included an audio recording of a female controller from the Taipei air traffic control center telling the unidentified aircraft that it was
A series of discussions on the legacy of martial law and authoritarianism are to be held at the Taipei International Book Exhibition this month, featuring findings and analysis by the Transitional Justice Commission. The commission and publisher Book Republic organized the series, entitled “Escaping the Nation’s Labyrinth of Memory: What Authoritarian Symbols and Records Can Tell Us,” to help people navigate narratives through textual analysis and comparisons with other nations. The four-day series is to begin on Thursday next week with a discussion between commission Chairwoman Yang Tsui (楊翠), Polish-language translator Lin Wei-yun (林蔚昀), and Polish author and artist Pawel Gorecki comparing
MOVING OUT: A former professor said that rent and early education costs in Taipei are the nation’s highest, which makes it difficult for young people to start families The population of Taipei last year fell to the lowest in 23 years due to high rent, more transportation options and the expansion of northern cities into a single metropolis, academics and city officials said on Monday. Data released this month by the Ministry of the Interior showed that the capital was home to 2,602,418 people last year, down 42,623 from 2019. The decline is second only to 1993, when the population fell by 42,828 people, while Taipei’s population was the lowest it has been since 1997. Taipei saw the biggest drop among the six special municipalities, while Taoyuan led the group in
A legislator yesterday called for authorities to investigate the sale of Chinese-made, Internet-connected karaoke machines containing “propaganda songs.” Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) said she was approached by a person who had discovered Chinese patriotic songs such as My Motherland (我的祖國) — which is commonly referred to as China’s “second national anthem” — in Chinese-made karaoke devices sold in Taiwan. The machines are popular, as they can connect to the Internet, providing access to thousands of songs, she said. One retailer, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the machines first entered the local market about three years ago, starting with