The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) would welcome support from Japan and the EU for Taiwan’s bid to gain “meaningful participation” in UN agencies, MOFA spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) said yesterday.
Naohiro Tsutsumi, general affairs department chief at the Taipei office of Japan’s Interchange Association, said a day earlier that Japan acknowledged and respected Taiwan’s efforts to participate in the UN.
Tsutsumi said that on condition that all parties are satisfied, Japan supported Taiwan’s efforts to obtain observer status in the World Health Assembly (WHA), the supreme decision-making body of the WHO.
Japan also supported Taiwan’s attempts to expand participation in WHO technical-level meetings, he said.
Tsutsumi said that Japan’s stance on supporting Taiwan’s participation in the WHA would not change, but he said that Japan would study whether to support Taiwan’s participation in other UN agencies on a case-by-case basis.
Meanwhile, Javier Solana, EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, has repeated the EU’s support for Taiwan’s participation in UN-affiliated agencies in letters written to two European Parliament members on Monday.
A request put forward by Taiwan’s diplomatic allies to include the issue as a supplementary item on the agenda of the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly was rejected on Sept. 17 by the UN General Committee, again because of China’s opposition.
The US mission to the UN released a statement late that day to show support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in UN agencies.
The EU also expressed its support for Taiwan’s participation in multilateral forums on Sept. 19.
Chen said the support showed that Taiwan’s bid for meaningful participation in UN agencies has gained approval in the international community.
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