Taiwan should be full member of United Nations: Nikki Haley

Taipei, Aug. 21 (CNA) Former United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Wednesday called on the U.N. to "stop ignoring" Taiwan and argued that Taiwan deserved to be a "full member" of the international organization.

In her keynote address at a seminar in Taipei, Haley, who served as the U.S.' top envoy to the U.N. from January 2017 to December 2018 under former President Donald Trump, said she was visiting Taiwan for the first time but has "proudly stood with Taiwan for years."

Haley challenged but ultimately lost to Trump in the 2024 Republican Party presidential primary.

Praising Taiwan as a "place of courage, confidence, and unwavering resolve," the former governor of South Carolina called on free countries to "stand strong with Taiwan -- now more than ever."

Haley said she believed now was the "most dangerous time in decades," describing the free nations of the West as being "in retreat."

If the West was strong, "Afghanistan would never have fallen to the Taliban;" "Russia would never have invaded Ukraine;" "the Middle East wouldn't be in flames," "and China's mistreatment of Taiwan would be vastly diminished," she claimed.

In terms of Taiwan, Haley said that after she arrived at the U.N., she learned that Taiwanese passport holders "aren't even allowed in the [U.N. Headquarters] building," "because China has convinced the world that 24 million people in Taiwan effectively do not exist."

She said her own government needed to elevate Taiwan on the world stage, but did not detail specifically what the U.S. could do to achieve the goal.

"You should no longer be silenced in global affairs. Given the strength of your freedom and democracy, you should be empowered to speak," she said.

"Taiwan should be a full member in the United Nations. You have every right to sit at the same table with the world's countries," she added.

The U.N. General Assembly adopted Resolution 2758 in 1971 to solve the issue of China's representation in the U.N. system. It ultimately led to the U.N. expelling Taiwan, officially named the Republic of China (ROC), and the People's Republic of China (PRC) taking its place

Haley said Beijing will naturally threaten war if the U.S. and other countries support Taiwan, but that was exactly why democracies should move faster.

To serve as a stronger deterrence, the U.S. and its European and Asian allies have to "immediately begun rebuilding our militaries."

"We should stand with Taiwan today -- not wait until China invades. If we take the necessary steps now, China will think twice about starting a war," she said.

Democracies also need to launch an economic build-up, the ex-envoy said, while calling on the U.S. to sign a free trade agreement with Taiwan.

"That would benefit both of us, while weakening China's economic leverage. It would take some time to forge even closer economic ties and shift trade routes, so the sooner we start, the better," she argued.

Haley was invited to speak at the afternoon session of the one-day Taipei-based Ketagalan Forum, a Taiwan government-funded annual international seminar with a focus on security issues in the Indo-Pacific.