Taiwan has no immediate plan to recognize a Palestinian state, but the government is closely monitoring the latest developments on the issue, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, calling on the Palestinian authorities to engage in exchanges with Taiwan.
The ministry’s comments came after the UK, Australia, Canada and Portugal announced formal recognition of the state of Palestine, with France expected to follow.
Palestine and China established formal diplomatic ties in 1988, and in 2023 signed a joint statement to establish a Chinese-Palestinian strategic partnership, in which Palestine said Taiwan is an “inalienable part of China’s territory.”
Photo: Taipei Times
Palestine “resolutely opposes any form of ‘Taiwan independence’ and reaffirms that it will not conduct any form of official exchanges with Taiwan,” it said.
The ministry said that Taiwan was included in the Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine to the UN’s map of countries that recognize a Palestinian State, as it sees Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China.
This was “disrespectful to Taiwanese sovereignty,” the ministry said, calling on all parties “to show self-restraint... and resolve differences through ongoing communication.”
Taiwan has helped in humanitarian relief efforts in the Gaza Strip, such as donating US$500,000 to the humanitarian non-governmental organization Mercy Corps in May last year to provide aid through the group’s Palestine branch, it said.
However, the nation has also pledged to donate funds to a medical project in an Israeli settlement, the ministry said, adding that it would not cross any red lines, despite criticism from human rights groups domestically and abroad.
Currently, 147 of the 193 UN member states recognize the state of Palestine, which has been a non-member observer state of the UN General Assembly since November 2012.
The Israeli and US governments have said that recognition of a Palestinian state would be a “diplomatic gift for Hamas.”
More than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza, local health authorities said, while an independent UN inquiry concluded this month that Israel’s actions amount to genocide.
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