Overseas Taiwanese groups on Tuesday urged UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to allow Taiwan to join the organization as a full member under the name Taiwan, as the UN General Assembly convened for its 79th session.
Overseas Taiwanese share a common hope that the nation can fully participate in the UN system, said the 27 groups that cosigned the letter, including the US-based Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA).
The groups called on the UN to permit Taiwanese to enter the UN Headquarters to observe or report on its proceedings and to cease referring to Taiwan as a province or territory of China.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Taiwan satisfies all the definitions of statehood under the Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States, which stipulates that a state’s political existence is “independent of recognition by the other states,” they said.
Beijing’s malicious efforts to conflate its “one China” principle with UN Resolution 2758 is the sole reason for Taiwan’s exclusion from the UN system over the past 50 years, they said.
The 1971 resolution recognized the People’s Republic of China as the sole representative of China in the UN, expelling the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) from the global body.
The letter quotes US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink as saying that UN Resolution “2758 did not constitute a UN institutional position on the ultimate political status of Taiwan, has no bearing on countries’ sovereign decisions about their relationships with Taiwan and does not preclude Taiwan’s meaningful participation in UN bodies.”
Taiwan’s status as a sovereign and independent state is a long-standing fact and there are no valid legal objections to deny it UN membership, FAPA president Kao Su-mei (林素梅) said.
The UN’s misinterpretation of the resolution amounted to the capitulation of its officials to Chinese political pressure in contravention of the principles espoused by the UN Charter, Kao said.
The UN must rectify the unfair and discriminatory practices against Taiwan that stemmed from the deliberate and malicious distortions made to the resolution, she said.
Taiwan’s formal application for UN membership has significance in international law, as only sovereign states are allowed to possess that status, she said, adding that the act affirms the nation’s claims to statehood.
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