Lawmakers from all political parties should support a proposed motion that would clarify UN Resolution 2758, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators told a news conference yesterday, but opposition party members later walked out of a cross-party meeting when the topic was raised.
DPP legislators Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩), Michelle Lin (林楚茵), Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Puma Shen (沈伯洋) said that the news conference was held to “oppose China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 and call on all political parties to speak up for Taiwan.”
UN Resolution 2758 does not have anything to do with Taiwan’s sovereignty and international status, and Taiwan rejects China’s attempts to distort the truth, they said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The US House of Representatives in July last year passed the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which affirms that UN Resolution 2758 does not refer to Taiwan, a sentiment echoed in July by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China’s own resolution.
More recently, the Australian Senate and the Dutch House of Representatives also passed motions clarifying the definition of UN Resolution 2758.
Now is the time for Taiwan to unite and make its voice heard by the international community, Chiu said.
UN Resolution 2758 should no longer block Taiwan from international participation, she said.
The motions in Australia and the Netherlands reflect Taiwan’s growing support abroad, Su said.
UN Resolution 2758 directly affects issues such as encroachment of Chinese fishing vessels into Taiwan’s waters and the M503 flight route, Su said.
Clarifying Taiwan’s international status would allow for it to join international organizations, she said.
The international movement to clarify Resolution 2758, as well as the recent transit of a German ship through the Taiwan Strait, show that Taiwan is important to the world, Lin said.
Now is the time for solidarity, Lin said, adding that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) should give up their alignment with Beijing’s position and give Taiwan back to Taiwanese.
The lack of clarity regarding Resolution 2758 lies at the heart of an international legal battle between China and the world, Shen said.
As China continues to expand its jurisdiction, Taiwan must know how to respond to the country’s legal challenges.
After the news conference, Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) convened talks on the new legislative session.
During the meeting, the DPP caucus proposed a joint statement from all parties, but Han and other KMT legislators, as well as those from the TPP, walked out of the meeting.
“I had to fight back tears; this is the reality of Taiwan’s situation,” DPP caucus secretary-general Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said, describing the feeling of reading the proposed statement to a room without opposition lawmakers in attendance.
The KMT and the TPP are disregarding what is best for Taiwan, Wu said.
The DPP will appeal to the public to ensure that the international community hears the true voice of the people, she said.
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
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
RSS