Taiwan has the right to join international bodies and establish diplomatic relations with other countries as UN Resolution No. 2758 does not involve Taiwan, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said on Thursday.
Lin made the statements regarding the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ efforts to increase support for Taiwan in the international community to enable its participation in international bodies.
Lin said that the ministry would continue to build international support for Taiwan’s participation in international bodies and fight against the misinterpretation of UN Resolution No. 2758.
Photo: CNA
The UN Assembly passed Resolution 2758, in 1971, which said that the assembly recognized the People’s Republic of China as “the only lawful representatives of China” to the international body.
The issue of Taiwan’s sovereignty or representation at the UN was beyond the resolution’s purview, he said.
To exclude the nation from the UN and its affiliate organizations, Beijing has been erroneously asserting that the resolution expressed an opinion on Taiwan’s sovereignty.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) asked what tangible actions were being undertaken to address the resolution’s misinterpretation, to which Lin said that the US has researched the resolution’s legal integrity and communicated with “third parties, including ones that have and do not have official diplomatic ties” with Taiwan.
The Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) on Sunday reported sources as saying that two US Department of State assistant secretaries had recently visited Taiwan, met with foreign representatives from 20 countries in Taiwan and told them that UN Resolution 2758 does not involve Taiwan nor should it be conflated with China’s “one China” principle.
Lin said that the interpretation of UN Resolution 2758 has been twisted, with many countries not aware that the resolution does not bar Taiwan from participating in international organizations or establishing diplomatic relations with other nations.
Citing the original resolution, Lin said it only decided to “expel forthwith the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek” at the UN, and did not mention Taiwan.
If Taiwan does not react, China’s use of legal warfare to make it an “internal” matter in the eyes of the international community would be successful, Lin added.
Lin compared China’s interpretation of the UN Resolution 2758 to the so-called “1992 consensus” and said that if no one bothered to look into the claims, they would be led to the erroneous belief that they had substance.
Lin said Taiwan has been excluded from the UN network due primarily to China’s willful misinterpretation of the resolution and the UN bowing to Beijing’s pressure.
Beijing has also seeded a significant number of officials within the international body and has been donating extensively to specific projects within the UN, which has further led UN agencies to either side with China or look the other way, Lin said.
The “1992 consensus” — a term that former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000 — refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
RSS