Nine of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies on Friday urged the UN to remain neutral and not support Beijing’s political pressure on the nation in a joint letter issued ahead of the 80th UN General Assembly debate.
The letter, sent to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, was signed by the permanent representatives of Belize, Eswatini, Guatemala, the Marshall Islands, Palau, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Tuvalu.
They wrote that UN Resolution 2758 has been distorted in ways that threaten peace in the Taiwan Strait and Indo-Pacific region, that it does not exclude Taiwan from participation in the UN system, and that it should not be used to block Taiwanese people and media from attending UN meetings or events.
Photo: CNA
The resolution only addressed China’s representation in the UN, the envoys wrote, adding that it neither resolved the issue of Taiwan’s participation in the UN system, nor barred the nation from contributing to international organizations.
They also urged the UN to stop invoking the resolution to justify blocking Taiwanese people and media from entering UN buildings or covering meetings and events, describing such practices as unjustified and discriminatory.
UN Resolution 2758, adopted in 1971, recognized People’s Republic of China “as the only legitimate representatives of China to the United Nations.”
It also expelled “the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek [蔣介石] from the place which they unlawfully occupy at the United Nations and in all the organizations related to it,” but it does not mention Taiwan.
Beijing has used the resolution to justify Taiwan’s exclusion from UN bodies.
Ambassadors from six of the allied countries — John Silk of the Marshall Islands, Mutryce Williams of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Janine Elizabeth Coye-Felson of Belize, Jose Alberto Briz Gutierrez of Guatemala, Ilana Victorya Seid of Palau and Tapugao Falefou of Tuvalu — delivered the letter at the UN headquarters in New York.
Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York Director Lee Chih-chiang (李志強) thanked the allies for their concrete action and called on the UN to seek appropriate ways for Taiwan’s meaningful participation.
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