Allies deliver letter backing Taiwan's U.N. participation

Taipei, Sept. 18 (CNA) Representatives from 11 of Taiwan's diplomatic allies delivered a joint letter to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Tuesday to express support for Taiwan's participation in the U.N. during the opening of the 74th session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

The 11 countries that signed the letter are Belize, eSwatini, Haiti, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Tuvalu, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said in a statement issued Wednesday.

The letter was delivered by representatives from the 11 diplomatic allies, as well as the Vatican but with the exception of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, according to the ministry.

Although Taiwan's only diplomatic ally in Europe, the Holy See, which is not a member of the U.N., but a permanent observer, did not sign the letter, the deputy permanent representative of the Holy See to the U.N., Monsignor Fredrik Hansen, delivered the letter to the U.N. Secretariat along with the other allies in accordance with past practice, according to MOFA.

Meanwhile, Honduras and Paraguay also wrote separately to Guterres to show their strong support for Taiwan's U.N. participation, the ministry said.

Hsu Li-wen (徐儷文), head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York, expressed her gratitude to the allies for expressing their staunch support for Taiwan during the annual opening session of the U.N. General Assembly.

Hsu said that Taiwan's allies believe Taiwan is a reliable partner that can contribute to the international community and signed the letter to Guterres, calling for the U.N. to uphold the spirit of inclusion, fairness, justice and not leaving anyone behind to deal with the unfairness facing Taiwan's exclusion from the U.N. mechanism and to include this good partner -- Taiwan -- in the mechanism.

Compared with last year, the number of Taiwan's allies that signed a joint letter in support of Taiwan dropped by one this year because the Solomon Islands' government voted Monday to sever its longstanding ties with Taiwan and establish diplomatic relations with Beijing.

The other difference this year is that Nicaragua did not sign its own letter to the U.N. Secretariat as it did last year.

After the delivery of the joint letter, Kiribati's representative to the U.N., Teburoro Tito, told CNA that he was happy to show support for Taiwan and that everyone should be included in the U.N. Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Meanwhile, Lois Michele Young, permanent representative of Belize to the U.N., stressed that the allies said in the joint letter that Taiwan should not be excluded from the U.N. and relevant organizations and that the U.N. should not block Taiwan passport holders from entering U.N. premises for public visits or deny Taiwanese journalists access to cover U.N.-related activities.

Young also said that any reports submitted to the U.N. should not remove the name Taiwan or use other designations.

In the letter, the allies noted that Taiwan has attained achievements in many areas and is pleased to share the experience of its development and called on the U.N. to include this reliable and trustworthy partner based on the inclusive imperative approach to delivering an inclusion experience proposed by Guterres.

The 74th session of the U.N. General Assembly will run through Sept. 30.