Staff writer, with CNA, NEW YORK
Nicaraguan Minister of Foreign Affairs Denis Moncada spoke in support of Taiwan’s inclusion in the UN on the last day of the General Debate on Monday.
Near the end of his 24-minute address, Moncada said it was essential to apply the “principle of universality” on humanitarian grounds amid the COVID-19 pandemic so that Taiwan can participate in the corresponding mechanisms and meetings under the UN system.
Photo: AP
Nicaragua was the 13th of Taiwan’s 15 diplomatic allies in the UN to voice support for the nation’s inclusion in the organization during the UN General Assembly’s 76th session in New York.
The number was the highest since 2017, when 15 of 20 diplomatic allies spoke up in support of Taiwan during the General Debate.
The only two allies that did not speak up for Taiwan this year were Honduras and the Holy See.
Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez did not mention Taiwan in his address on Wednesday. It was the sixth consecutive year that the Central American ally did not mention Taiwan at the annual event.
Instead, Honduras each year sends a letter to the UN secretary-general to support Taiwan’s participation in the UN.
The Holy See, Taiwan’s only official diplomatic ally in Europe, is not a UN member, but an observer and rarely speaks on political issues at UN meetings.
Taiwan also received indirect support from countries with which it does not have formal diplomatic relations.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told the General Assembly on Saturday that there should not be a “geographical blank space” when the world deals with issues at the World Health Assembly, as all countries and regions should be able to share knowledge in a free and transparent fashion.
Japanese officials use the phrase “geographical blank space” when referring to Taiwan at international events.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching