Taiwan should be part of ICAO, U.S. transport secretary tells assembly

Taipei, Sept. 24 (CNA) The United States Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Tuesday expressed Washington's support for Taipei's desire to participate in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) on the opening day of the organization's triennial assembly in Canada.

"It is also essential that all international aviation stakeholders, particularly Taiwan, are meaningfully included in ICAO's technical activities. There is no room for politics on this question," Duffy said during his remark at the ICAO's 42nd assembly, held at the organization's headquarters in Montreal.

"This is about safety and security of the global system that we all enjoy, and of which Taiwan is an active part," Duffy added.

Speaking during the same event on Tuesday, Liang Nan (梁楠), deputy administrator of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, meanwhile, reiterated China's long-held stance that Taiwan is part of the People's Republic of China's (PRC) territory.

"There is only one China in the world," she told the gathering, according to a Reuters report.

In response to Duffy's show of support, Taiwan's top diplomat Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) expressed his gratitude in a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) news release.

MOFA's press statement also refuted Liang's statement made during Tuesday's assembly, reiterating the government's stance that Taiwan, officially named the Republic of China (ROC), is an independent, sovereign country, and that neither the ROC (Taiwan) nor the PRC is subordinate to the other.

"Only the democratically elected government of Taiwan has the right to represent the Taiwanese people in ICAO and other international organizations," it added.

The MOFA statement continued that the Taipei Flight Information Region (Taipei FIR), managed solely by Taiwan's Civil Aviation Administration (CAA), handled more than 1 million flights annually.

Only by including Taiwan in ICAO can the integrity and safety of the global civil aviation system be ensured, it added.

ICAO's 42nd assembly officially opened on Tuesday and will run until Oct. 3.

Taiwan is not a United Nations member and therefore not part of ICAO, a specialized U.N. agency.

The country last attended the ICAO assembly in 2013 as a guest of the council president, at a time of warmer cross-strait relations under the then-Kuomintang (KMT) administration.

Despite not receiving an invitation, a Taiwan ICAO action team led by CAA Deputy Director-General Lin Jiunn-liang (林俊良) has arrived in Montreal, where it is to meet with delegations from diplomatic allies and friendly nations to raise awareness of the necessity of Taiwan's participation in the ICAO.