President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday raised the idea of filing an application to join the UN using the name of Taiwan in his capacity as national leader.
"The People's Republic of China does not have the right to represent Taiwan nor the 23 million people of Taiwan," Chen said. "If we want to join the UN under the name of Taiwan, we must figure out who will be the best person to file the application. Should it be the president, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or our diplomatic allies?"
Chen posed the question while meeting UN ambassadors from the Marshall Islands, Honduras and Paraguay at the Presidential Office yesterday morning.
Chen said the country has made 14 futile attempts over the years to gain accession to the UN with different titles, including the Republic of China, the Republic of China on Taiwan and the Republic of China (Taiwan).
If the nation continued to use such names to try and join the organization, Chen said that it would just be fighting with the PRC over the right to represent China.
"Therefore, we are studying the possibility of attempting to join the UN using the name Taiwan to see whether such an approach would obtain more attention and support from the international community," he said.
Chen yesterday thanked his foreign guests and diplomatic allies for speaking in favor of the nation's UN bid over the years.
As it was the fundamental right of all nations to join the international body, Chen said the Taiwanese people should not be discriminated against or excluded from the global organization.
While UN Resolution No. 2758 allows for the representation of China's population, it fails to serve the interests of the Taiwanese public, he said.
Chen said that he believed the international community would agreed with him in this regard and that his administration would continue its efforts to gain membership in the UN.
"I believe we shall eventually prevail if we can gather enough support from the international community," he said.
A drunk woman was sexually assaulted inside a crowded concourse of Taipei Railway Station on Thursday last week before a foreign tourist notified police, leading to calls for better education on bystander intervention and review of security infrastructure. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was taken into custody on charges of sexual assault, taking advantage of the woman’s condition and public indecency. Police discovered that Chiu was a fugitive with prior convictions for vehicle theft. He has been taken into custody and is to complete his unserved six-month sentence, police said. On Thursday last week, Chiu was seen wearing a white
EVA Airways, one of the leading international carriers in Taiwan, yesterday said that it was investigating reports that a cabin crew manager had ignored the condition of a sick flight attendant, who died on Saturday. The airline made the statement in response to a post circulating on social media that said that the flight attendant on an outbound flight was feeling sick and notified the cabin crew manager. Although the flight attendant grew increasingly ill on the return flight, the manager did not contact Medlink — a system that connects the aircraft to doctors on the ground for treatment advice during medical
The Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union yesterday vowed to protest at the EVA Air Marathon on Sunday next week should EVA Airway Corp’s management continue to ignore the union’s petition to change rules on employees’ leave of absence system, after a flight attendant reportedly died after working on a long-haul flight while ill. The case has generated public discussion over whether taking personal or sick leave should affect a worker’s performance review. Several union members yesterday protested at the Legislative Yuan, holding white flowers and placards, while shouting: “Life is priceless; requesting leave is not a crime.” “The union is scheduled to meet with
‘UNITED FRONT’ RHETORIC: China’s TAO also plans to hold weekly, instead of biweekly, news conferences because it wants to control the cross-strait discourse, an expert said China’s plan to expand its single-entry visa-on-arrival service to Taiwanese would be of limited interest to Taiwanese and is a feeble attempt by Chinese administrators to demonstrate that they are doing something, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said the program aims to facilitate travel to China for Taiwanese compatriots, regardless of whether they are arriving via direct flights or are entering mainland China through Hong Kong, Macau or other countries, and they would be able to apply for a single-entry visa-on-arrival at all eligible entry points in China. The policy aims
RSS