Taipei (AsiaNews) –UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, who yesterday underlined the “illegality” of Taiwan’s request for a new UN seat, is “mistaken”. According to the Taiwan government Ban has not understood the value of their request.
According to Annette Lu, Taiwan vice president, the position of the Secretary is based on a misunderstanding: “The U.N. Resolution 2758 [which recognises Beijing alone as representing China] does not go against our proposal to be once again represented in the new Assembly. We do not contest the ‘one China’ policy: we want to be recognised as Taiwan”.
Since 1993 Taiwan’s allies have tried to open a debate on its UN membership but it has failed to either get enough votes in the General Assembly or is blocked before it gets to the Security Council where mainland China has a veto. Since the adoption of UN Resolution 2758 in 1971, the People’s Republic has been China’s sole representative in the world body.
However, since the end of the Civil War in 1949 and Chiang Kai-shek’s flight to the island, Taiwan has exercised de facto independence, evolving into a parliamentary democracy with free elections and the world’s 18th largest economy.
Referring to the latest request to the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon said: “This is a very delicate issue, but in the light of resolution 2758 it is not legally possible to welcome the new membership request presented by Taiwan”. Annette Lu, however concluded : “membership for Taiwan has officially been introduced on the international stage, we must not be discouraged”.
