The
Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday thanked the nation’s allies for their
unwavering support for Taiwan’s UN bid after St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Tuvalu, St. Lucia and the Solomon Islands spoke in favor of Taiwan’s participation in the global body.
“We welcome such support and we appreciate our allies for their actions,” says
Henry Chen, Ministry spokesman.
“We kept telling the press and the public to wait and see how our allies would
help us out and this is a good example of it,” Chen said.
This year marked Taiwan’s 16th failed attempt to be
admitted into the UN after it forfeited its seat in 1971 when the UN General
Assembly agreed to recognize the People’s Republic of China as the sole legitimate
representative of China.
Instead of bidding for full membership, Taiwan only requested “meaningful
participation” in the activities of the agencies under the UN umbrella.
The bid was
rejected when the UN General Committee on Tuesday refused to list the
resolution on the assembly agenda.
Central
News Agency reported that St. Vincent Prime Minister, Ralph Gonsalves,
commended Taiwan as a responsible stakeholder in the
international community and for its push to ameliorate cross-strait relations
with Beijing.
If Taiwan can be an active member of the WTO,
he argued, there is no reason why Taiwan should be excluded from the WHO and
other UN agencies
Solomon Islands Prime Minister, Derek Sikua, and
Tuvaluan Prime Minister, Apisai Ielemia Apisai, urged UN member states to
reward Taiwan’s efforts in assuaging cross-strait
tensions by giving Taiwan the appropriate and much needed
international space it needed and accept it in UN agencies.
St. Lucia Prime Minister, Stephenson King, said that although Taiwan does not
have a seat in the global organization, it has never failed to contribute in
the efforts to tackle global challenges such as diseases, disaster and food
shortage.