Taiwan allies to UN: Be neutral, don't fall for Res. 2758 distortion

New York, Sept. 19 (CNA) Nine of Taiwan's diplomatic allies urged the United Nations on Friday to remain neutral and not support Beijing's political pressure on Taiwan in a joint letter issued ahead of the 80th U.N. General Assembly debate.

The letter, sent to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, was signed by the permanent representatives of Belize, Eswatini, Guatemala, the Marshall Islands, Palau, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Tuvalu.

They wrote that U.N. Resolution 2758 has been distorted in ways that threaten peace in the Taiwan Strait and Indo-Pacific, that it does not exclude Taiwan from participation in the U.N. system, and that it should not be used to block Taiwanese people and media from attending U.N. meetings and events.

The resolution only addressed China's representation in the United Nations, the envoys stressed, saying that it neither resolved the issue of Taiwan's participation in the U.N. system nor barred the island from contributing to international organizations.

They also urged the U.N. to stop invoking the resolution to justify blocking Taiwanese people and media from entering U.N. buildings or covering meetings and events, saying such practices were unjustified and discriminatory.

Resolution 2758, adopted in 1971, recognized People's Republic of China representatives "as the only legitimate representatives of China to the United Nations."

It also expelled "the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek from the place which they unlawfully occupy at the United Nations and in all the organizations related to it," but it does not mention "Taiwan."

Beijing has used the resolution to justify Taiwan's exclusion from U.N. bodies

Ambassadors from six of the allied countries -- John Silk of the Marshall Islands, Mutryce Williams of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Janine Elizabeth Coye-Felson of Belize, José Alberto Bríz Gutiérrez of Guatemala, Ilana Victorya Seid of Palau, and Tapugao Falefou of Tuvalu -- personally delivered the letter at U.N. headquarters in New York.

Palau's envoy Seid told CNA the letter was passed to U.N. Under-Secretary-General Guy Ryder, who will forward it to Guterres.

"As allies of Taiwan, we have always said that we feel that there is a mischaracterization of the resolution," she said.

Tuvalu's envoy Falefou added that interpreting the resolution as excluding Taiwan is "very wrong" because it never said Taiwan could not participate in the U.N. system.

Lee Chih-chiang (李志強), who heads the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York, thanked the allies for their concrete action and called on the U.N. to seek appropriate ways for Taiwan's meaningful participation.