Taiwanese-American organizations in California last week issued joint statements calling for Taiwan’s participation in the UN ahead of its General Assembly, which begins tomorrow, saying that the nation is ready to make concrete contributions to international affairs.
Representatives from nearly 50 organizations on Thursday gathered at the Culture Center of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Los Angeles to issue a statement, followed the day after by a similar statement issued by six organizations in San Francisco’s South Bay.
Taiwan’s outstanding epidemic preparedness from last year, paired with its ability to meet the needs of the global supply chain, demonstrates that “Taiwan can help and is ready to help,” the Southern Californian groups said.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwanese American Center of Northern California via CNA
“Now is the time for the UN to accept Taiwan and for Taiwan to make a contribution,” they added.
Taiwan is a force for good in the world, TECO in Los Angeles Director-General Louis Huang (黃敏境) said.
Its success in combating the COVID-19 pandemic at home, while also providing medical supplies and masks to the rest of the world especially shows the nation’s ability to make significant contributions on the international stage, he said, adding that Taiwan’s exclusion from the UN is a loss for the world.
Just up the coast on Friday last week, representatives from six San Francisco Bay Area organizations also arranged a joint news conference to call for Taiwan’s participation in the UN.
“Not only does Taiwan need the UN, but the UN needs Taiwan, too,” the groups said, adding that the nation’s excellence in technology, healthcare and soft power, as well as its global trade status, can help the global organization.
More countries and individuals are supporting Taiwan’s participation in the UN, said Yan Shu-jung (閻樹榮), director of TECO in San Francisco’s Culture Center.
However, the nation would not be discouraged if it cannot participate, and would continue to strive for international support through the help of its global allies and overseas communities, Yan added.
Representatives from eight Taiwanese expat community organizations in Northern California on Saturday issued a similar call at a news conference in San Jose.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday said that, starting tomorrow, TECO in New York plans to launch a series of publicity campaigns to share Taiwan’s contributions to post-pandemic recovery and its desire to participate in the UN.
On the opening day of the assembly, the office plans to launch its campaign through the Web site GiveTaiwanAVoice.com.
Themed around sky lanterns, the campaign aims to represent how “hope soars when we all listen” in response to this year’s General Assembly theme of “building resilience through hope.”
The public is invited to release their own digital “sky lanterns” on social media with messages of support for Taiwan with the hashtag #HearTaiwan.
The 76th UN General Assembly in New York is to focus on COVID-19 recovery, sustainable reconstruction, responding to global needs, respecting human rights and revitalizing the UN.
The General Debate is to take place from Tuesday next week to Sept. 27.
Additional reporting by Wu Su-wei
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
China’s newest Type-076 amphibious assault ship has two strengths and weaknesses, wrote a Taiwanese defense expert, adding that further observations of its capabilities are warranted. Jiang Hsin-biao (江炘杓), an assistant researcher at the National Defense and Security Research, made the comments in a report recently published by the institute about the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) military and political development. China christened its new assault ship Sichuan in a ceremony on Dec. 27 last year at Shanghai’s Hudong Shipyard, China’s Xinhua news agency reported. “The vessel, described as the world’s largest amphibious assault ship by the [US think tank] Center for Strategic and International
RSS