Taiwan lobbies for U.N. inclusion ahead of general assembly

Taipei, Aug. 29 (CNA) Taiwan's government reiterated its pitch to be included in the United Nations ahead of the General Assembly kicking off next week and after facing more than fifty years of exclusion, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Tuesday.

Deputy Minister Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said the ministry had continued to ask its diplomatic allies to speak up during the upcoming 78th General Assembly and/or to send a letter to Secretary-General António Guterres.

Tien made the comment when announcing MOFA's campaign for U.N. participation this year in the run up to the annual event, which will kick off on Sept. 5. at the U.N. headquarters in New York. The General Debate, meanwhile, will be held between Sept. 19-26.

According to Tien, the theme for the 78th session will be "Rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity: Accelerating action on the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals towards peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all."

Tien said the Taiwan government's main pitch to the world was that the PRC had been deliberately misinterpreting the U.N. Resolution 2758 as evidence of its claim over the island nation.

U.N. Resolution 2758 was adopted by the 26th General Assembly in 1971 to solve the issue of China's representation in the U.N. system.

It recognizes the PRC as the "only lawful representative of China". It does not mention Taiwan and does not state that "Taiwan is part of the PRC," according to Tien, who added that the resolution does not authorize Beijing to represent Taiwan in the U.N. system and does not say that Taiwan is a part of the PRC.

According to Tien, Taipei has asked the international organization to resolve the exclusion of Taiwan's 23 million people from the U.N. system so that "no one will be left behind" and to allow Taiwan to jointly work with countries around the world in taking on global challenges.

As part of the campaign to promote Taiwan's appeal to the international community, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) published an op-ed in international media, Tien said.

MOFA also released a promotional video outlining Taiwan's contributions to solving global issues and its implementation of the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals as part of the nation's efforts to join the global body.

The video, titled "To Equality," tells five stories that echo the UN goals and the theme of the upcoming session, according to MOFA.

Mandarin and English versions of the video appear on its YouTube channel "Trending Taiwan" with subtitles available in Arabic, French, German, Indonesian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai, Ukrainian and Vietnamese.

A number of side events launched by Taiwan's representative office in New York, where the U.N. headquarters is based, have been or will be held during the assembly to promote Taiwan's inclusion in the U.N. system, he added.

A delegation of Taiwanese lawmakers will also visit New York and advocate for Taiwan's U.N. inclusion, he added.

Taiwan, officially called the Republic of China, left the U.N. in 1971 when the People's Republic of China (PRC) took its place, and it has since been excluded from its special agencies.