Overseas Taiwanese held a parade on Saturday in New York City to call for Taiwan’s inclusion in the UN as the 78th session of the UN General Assembly gets under way.
About 300 Taiwanese people walked from the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in midtown Manhattan to the New York Public Library.
While walking in the city, the participants held flags and banners with slogans and chanted “Keep Taiwan Free” and “UN for Taiwan.”
Photo: CNA
They boarded a cruise ship, which had a banner hanging that said “UN Membership for Taiwan Now! Keep Taiwan Free,” and passed through the East River and near the Statue of Liberty.
The ship sailed past the UN Headquarters toward the end of the trip.
Hsu Puo-chen (許伯丞), the event organizer, said that this was the first time the parade was followed by a cruise trip, with the hope that more people in New York could learn about Taiwan’s exclusion from the UN and support the nation’s bid to join.
Photo: CNA
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York expressed Taiwan’s desire to meaningfully participate in the UN by having an animated short film broadcast in Times Square, which has been done for many years.
The short film featured a pink-orange background and imagery of Taiwan’s mountains and seas. Taiwan blue magpies were shown flying towards the UN, symbolizing Taiwanese people’s desire to join hands with the world to safeguard peace.
The office also tried a new method to promote Taiwan’s bid this year: having a food truck.
The truck had the slogan “Global Peace with Taiwan” printed on it and it offered winter melon tea, guava juice and bubble milk tea popsicles to New Yorkers along with interactive games.
“The world is safe when Taiwan is safe, the world is peaceful when the Taiwan Strait is peaceful — these are the consensus of the international society,” office director James Lee (李光章) said.
The purpose of the UN is to maintain peace and security globally, which includes taking effective actions to safeguard peace and eliminate threats, he said.
Legislators Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應), Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃), Chen Ming-wen (陳明文), Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀), Chang Hung-lu (張宏陸), Lai Hsiang-ling (賴香伶) and Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) joined the parade and volunteered at the food truck.
“There are food trucks everywhere in New York. It is very important to promote Taiwan in a way that is close to the local culture and let everyone know more about Taiwan and where it is,” Chen Ting-fei said.
The group of legislators went to New York “to get the world hear Taiwan’s desire to join the UN and participate in all its organizations,” Chang said.
Belizean Ambassador to the UN Carlos Fuller and Palauan Representative to the UN Ilana Seid took part in the food truck launching event and voiced support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the UN and its contribution to the organization’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS