10 allies, U.S. advocate for Taiwan's participation in ICAO

Taipei, Oct. 14 (CNA) The United States and 10 of Taiwan's diplomatic allies spoke in favor of Taiwan's efforts to join the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), at its recent triennial assembly, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.

The 10 allies, along with the U.S., advocated for Taiwan's inclusion in the ICAO, a specialized agency of the United Nations that develops policies and standards for international civil aviation to ensure safe and efficient air transportation, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).

It is "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," U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in his address at the assembly on Sept. 23, according to MOFA.

"This is about safety and security of the global system that we all enjoy, and of which Taiwan is an active part," Duffy was quoted as saying on the opening day of the ICAO's 42nd assembly at its headquarters in Montreal, Canada.

High level officials from 10 of Taiwan's diplomatic allies -- Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands, Palau, the Kingdom of Eswatini, Guatemala, Saint Lucia, Saint Christopher and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, and Paraguay -- also called for Taiwan's inclusion in the ICAO, MOFA said in a statement released Tuesday.

Taiwan's only diplomatic ally in Europe, the Holy See, is not an ICAO member, while its other ally Haiti did not touch on the issue at the triennial assembly.

The Caribbean country has been embroiled in widespread political, economic, and security crises since its former President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated at his home in July 2021.

Haitian representatives at United Nations-related agencies like the ICAO have been focused more on the unrest in their country during such assemblies, a diplomatic source told CNA on condition of anonymity.

In its statement, MOFA said that in addition to the advocacy at the ICAO assembly, there have also been efforts on other fronts to support Taiwan's participation in the specialized U.N. agency, which currently has 193 member states.

Motions have been adopted in the U.S. Senate, House of Representatives, and 30 state-level lawmaking bodies, as well as in the parliaments of the United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Sweden, Hungary, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Switzerland, Israel, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Guatemala, Saint Christopher and Nevis, and Paraguay, according to MOFA.

MOFA thanked Taiwan's diplomatic allies and like-minded countries for their support and reiterated its call for Taiwan's inclusion in the ICAO's triennial assembly and related meetings, mechanisms, and activities.

Taiwan last attended the ICAO assembly in 2013 as a guest of the council president, at a time when China's efforts to isolate Taiwan were less aggressive, as cross-Taiwan Strait relations were warmer under the then-Kuomintang administration in Taiwan.

Taiwan is not a U.N. member and therefore not part of the ICAO, which held its 42nd assembly from Sept. 23 to Oct. 3 this year.