The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday that Taiwan might resort to a different approach than last year in its bid for representation at the UN.
The 64th UN General Assembly session is scheduled to open on Sept. 15 at UN headquarters in New York and Taiwan must submit a bid proposal to the UN Secretariat through a diplomatic ally 30 days before that date for it to be considered for the General Assembly’s agenda.
Pressed by reporters on whether that means that the nation would not be making any bid if nothing was done before today’s deadline, Deputy Foreign Minister Andrew Hsia (夏立言) said that was not necessarily the case, as there were many different ways to approach a UN bid.
“If no proposal is made on that day [Aug. 15], then we might make a different bid. We will have a new approach,” said Hsia, without elaborating. “I’m sure you will get an answer [next week].”
Taiwan has not been represented at the UN since 1971 when the Republic of China’s seat was given to the People’s Republic of China.
Its annual efforts to rejoin the body since 1993 have all failed, as have its attempts to be part of UN-affiliated organizations, mainly because of China’s obstruction.
With relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait improving since President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration took office last year, Taiwan was invited to attend the World Health Assembly — the decision-making arm of the WHO — for the first time in May as an observer.
Last year, in a departure from the high-profile push in 2007 for full membership at the UN using the title Taiwan, the country proposed that it be allowed to “participate meaningfully in the activities of UN specialized agencies.”
The request again failed because of Beijing’s objections, even though it was well received by countries such as the US, Japan and some members of the EU, which issued statements in support of the bid.
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