Taiwan and its diplomatic allies launched the nation's latest bid for UN entry on Thursday as the 61st UN General Assembly prepares to convene on Sept. 12, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) confirmed yesterday.
This marks the country's 14th consecutive bid for participation in the international body. All of its previous attempts have failed because of China's obstruction.
The proposal this year addresses "the question of the representation and participation of the 23 million people of Taiwan in the United Nations" and requests the inclusion of Taiwan's bid as a supplementary item to the agenda of the upcoming session of the General Assembly.
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
In addition, a second proposal termed the "peace proposal" was also launched, asking the UN to take a more proactive role in maintaining peace and security in East Asia.
Director of MOFA's Department of International Organizations John Chen (
The second proposal "urges East Asian countries to settle disputes through peaceful means and encourages concerned countries in the region to take further steps toward military transparency and confidence-building."
To highlight the status of Taiwan, the wording in this year's proposal refers to the country's name as "Republic of China [Taiwan]" in the first instance only and thereafter refers to the nation as Taiwan.
This is in contrast to proposals in previous years where the "Republic of China" was used throughout the document to represent Taiwan, Chen said.
This year's proposal also directly asks the UN to "recognize" the right to representation of the 23 million people of Taiwan as opposed to requesting the UN to "study" the possibilities of Taiwanese being represented in the world body, reflecting a more proactive stance from the government in its pursuance of UN participation, Chen noted.
As part of the publicity campaign for this year's UN bid, the official said that the foreign ministry has been planning a video conference between President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), the media and opinion leaders in the US before the convening of the General Assembly.
Previously, local media had reported that the president had voiced the idea that Taiwan should use the name of "Taiwan" in this year's UN bid.
Meanwhile, Andrew Hsia (夏立言), director of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in New York, yesterday said that the severance of official ties with Chad would not affect Taiwan's campaign to join the UN.
Taiwan will keep telling the UN that it is determined to be part of the UN family in spite of its recent loss of ties with Chad, he said.
This year, Taiwan's UN campaign will use the theme of "UN-HUMAN" to underscore the world body's "unhuman" treatment of Taiwan's people, said Hsia.
Last year, Taiwan campaigned on the theme of "UN-FAIR" and the UN turned out to be "unfair" by refusing to discuss Taiwan's representation in the organization and cutting short the time its allies had to speak for it.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
RSS