The US and 10 of Taiwan's diplomatic allies spoke in favor of Taiwan’s efforts to join the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), at its recent triennial assembly, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today.
The 10 allies, along with the US, advocated for Taiwan's inclusion in the ICAO, a specialized agency of the UN that develops policies and standards for international civil aviation to ensure safe and efficient air transportation, the ministry said.
It is "essential that all international aviation stakeholders, particularly Taiwan, are meaningfully included in ICAO's technical activities. There is no room for politics on this question," US Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said in his address at the assembly on Sept. 23, the ministry said.
Photo: Reuters
"This is about safety and security of the global system that we all enjoy, and of which Taiwan is an active part," Duffy was quoted as saying on the opening day of the ICAO’s 42nd assembly at its headquarters in Montreal, Canada.
High-level officials from 10 of Taiwan's diplomatic allies — Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands, Palau, Eswatini, Guatemala, Saint Lucia, Saint Christopher and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize and Paraguay — also called for Taiwan's inclusion in the ICAO, the ministry said in a statement.
Taiwan's only diplomatic ally in Europe, the Holy See, is not an ICAO member, while its other ally Haiti did not touch on the issue at the triennial assembly.
The Caribbean country has been embroiled in widespread political, economic and security crises since its former president Jovenel Moïse was assassinated at his home in July 2021.
Haitian representatives at UN-related agencies such as the ICAO have been focused more on the unrest in their country during such assemblies, a diplomatic source said on condition of anonymity.
In its statement, the ministry said that in addition to the advocacy at the ICAO assembly, there have also been efforts on other fronts to support Taiwan's participation in the specialized UN agency, which currently has 193 member states.
Motions have been adopted in the US Senate, House of Representatives and 30 state-level lawmaking bodies, as well as in the parliaments of the UK, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Sweden, Hungary, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Switzerland, Israel, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Guatemala, Saint Christopher and Nevis, and Paraguay, it said.
The ministry thanked Taiwan's diplomatic allies and like-minded countries for their support and reiterated its call for Taiwan's inclusion in the ICAO's triennial assembly and related meetings, mechanisms and activities.
Taiwan last attended the ICAO assembly in 2013 as a guest of the council president, at a time when China's efforts to isolate Taiwan were less aggressive, as cross-strait relations were warmer under the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration.
Taiwan is not a UN member and therefore not part of the ICAO, which held its 42nd assembly from Sept. 23 to Oct. 3.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS