A senior diplomatic official argued on Monday that the government had not given up on its bid for representation in the UN despite its failure to launch a new campaign by the UN deadline this year.
“The inaction marks a significant change in our strategy to take part in UN activities,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“We will focus on securing seats in selected UN specialized organizations,” the official said, adding that the government would brief the public on its ultimate goal and changing strategy later this week.
Since 1993, Taiwan had annually urged its diplomatic allies to propose that the UN Steering Committee include Taiwan’s membership bid on the agenda of the annual session of the UN General Assembly. The annual campaign showed the government’s determination to upgrade Taiwan’s international profile.
UN regulations state that Taiwan’s membership bid should be filed with the UN Secretariat one month before the opening of the annual session of the General Assembly.
This year’s General Assembly session is scheduled to open on Sept. 15 in New York, but the Taiwanese government did not ask any diplomatic ally to present the membership bid proposal to the UN Secretariat before last Friday as it had in the past.
“The inaction indicates that the government had no intention of coming up with such a proposal this time around,” the official said.
He said, however, that the inaction should not be interpreted as abandoning the UN bid.
“We will never forgo our goal of seeking meaningful participation in UN activities in a pragmatic manner,” the official said.
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