The 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) will commence at UN headquarters in New York on September 10. The UN General Debate will be held from September 24 to 28 and on September 30. The theme of this year’s General Debate is “leaving no one behind: acting together for the advancement of peace, sustainable development and human dignity for present and future generations.”
Ironically, however, the 23.5 million people of Taiwan continue to be left behind by the UN system. This grave injustice is due mainly to China’s malicious misrepresentation of UNGA Resolution 2758; China’s attempts to mislead the international community into accepting that the resolution is equivalent to the so-called “one China principle”; and China’s spurious claims that Taiwan is part of the People’s Republic of China and that Resolution 2758 has authorized the PRC to represent Taiwan in the UN system. In effect, China is seeking to establish a legal basis to undermine the objective reality that the Republic of China (Taiwan) is a sovereign nation and divest Taiwan of its legitimate right to pursue participation in the UN system.
In the face of China’s cognitive warfare, prompt rebuttals and clarifications must be issued. Otherwise, the objective status quo across the Taiwan Strait—in which neither the ROC (Taiwan) nor the PRC is subordinate to the other—will utterly change, allowing China to lay a legal foundation for an armed invasion of Taiwan. The international community would then lose its legitimate right to assist Taiwan in accordance with the UN Charter, which calls for maintaining international peace and security and resolving international disputes through peaceful means.
Therefore, Taiwan’s bid to participate in the United Nations this year is focused on enhancing international understanding of UNGA Resolution 2758. The government hopes to make clear that the resolution does not mention Taiwan and thus has nothing to do with Taiwan. Moreover, the resolution neither states that Taiwan is part of China—as the PRC falsely claims—nor gives China the right to represent Taiwan in the United Nations.
Taiwan’s 2024 campaign for UN participation comprises three main issues.
1. The malicious distortion of UNGA Resolution 2758 has become a serious threat to the status quo across the Taiwan Strait and to peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. The United Nations must take action to address it.
2. UNGA Resolution 2758 does not preclude Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the UN system. The United Nations must seek suitable ways of including Taiwan so that Taiwan can better contribute to realizing the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
3. The UN Secretariat must adopt a strictly neutral stance and stop erroneously citing UNGA Resolution 2758. It must also grant Taiwanese nationals and journalists the right to access UN premises for visits, meetings, and newsgathering activities.
Over the past eight years, the Taiwan government’s stable and steadfast approach to promoting its UN campaigns has received international recognition and encouraged ever more like-minded countries to support its efforts to increase global engagement.
Following careful deliberations and considering this past success, the government has again decided to ask permanent representatives to the United Nations from Taiwan’s diplomatic allies to write a joint letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Officials from diplomatic allies have also been urged to speak up for Taiwan during the General Debate and other UNGA events.
To communicate Taiwan’s UN bid to the global community directly, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung wrote an op-ed entitled “To secure peace in the Indo-Pacific, include Taiwan in the UN system.” The op-ed has been published in media outlets around the world. The logo and short film for Taiwan’s UN campaign this year center on semiconductors and peace, highlighting Taiwan’s leading role in global semiconductor supply chains and its strong determination to pursue peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. These efforts aim to foster understanding worldwide that Taiwan—as a responsible member of the international community—will implement the Four Pillars of Peace action plan proposed by President Lai Ching-te. Taiwan will continue working with democratic partners to create sustainable supply chains for democracy chips and to advance global prosperity and development. In terms of cross-strait relations, Taiwan will neither yield nor provoke but will maintain the status quo and do its part to ensure peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
During the UNGA, the government will hold related side events and activities in New York to promote a positive image of Taiwan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) sincerely thanks legislators from the governing and opposition parties for once again organizing a cross-party delegation to provide guidance in New York. The delegation will explain to the UN community that the prevailing opinion among Taiwan’s 23.5 million people is a strong desire for equal participation in the UN system.
The United Nations belongs to all humanity. The UN Charter explicitly states that one of the purposes of the United Nations is to develop friendly relations among countries based on respect for the principle of equal rights of peoples. Yet, the United Nations has continued to succumb to pressure from China, ignore the Taiwanese people’s legitimate right to UN participation, echo China’s misrepresentation of UNGA Resolution 2758, and thereby seek to rationalize the wrongful and illegitimate exclusion of the Taiwanese people. MOFA deeply regrets the United Nations’ actions and expresses its strong displeasure.
MOFA extends appreciation to the US government for making a four-point public rebuttal in April regarding the misapplication of UNGA Resolution 2758. It also thanks the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China for adopting a model resolution on UNGA Resolution 2758 in July that could serve as reference for IPAC members when introducing related motions in their respective parliaments. In August, the Australian Senate became the first national parliament to pass such a motion, repudiating the misuse of UNGA Resolution 2758. Moving forward, Taiwan firmly believes that even more countries will stand up and call for justice for Taiwan.
To safeguard the Taiwanese people’s basic human right to international engagement, the government has campaigned persistently for UN participation since 1993. However, due to China’s unreasonable and heavy-handed interference, as well as the UN’s blind capitulation to China’s pressure, Taiwan has encountered countless difficulties and challenges to its UN bids. Despite this, the Taiwan government has never abandoned its efforts and never will—it will continue to seek international support. Taiwan once again reminds the United Nations that only by accepting Taiwan’s full participation can the world achieve peace, sustainable development, and human dignity for present and future generations. (E)
Deputy Foreign Minister Tien Chung-kwang discusses Taiwan’s approach for this year’s UN campaign
