State Department Supports Taiwanese Representation in UN
November 1, 2021
On Tuesday, US secretary of state Anthony Blinken released a statement calling for United Nations member states to include Taiwan in more UN institutions. Importantly, he did not call for Taiwan to be included in the United Nations itself.
The move marks a change in US foreign policy that has lasted since 1979 of excluding Taiwan from all world institutions such as the United Nations, World Health Organization, and any military alliances.
A civil war in China between the communist Peoples Republic of China and the democratic Republic of China resulted in the Peoples Republic taking over the entirety of the mainland and the Republic of China being exiled to Taiwan.
The United States continued to recognize the Republic of China as the sole ruler of all of China until 1971, when it recognized the Peoples republic as the sole ruler of China. In 1979 the U.S. also recognized the Peoples Republic when it ended all diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
Blinken called the Taiwanese response to the COVID-19 pandemic “world class” despite being barred from the World Health Organization and cited it as one of the reasons Taiwan should be allowed into the UN.
“Although we have much to learn from Taiwan’s world-class response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan was not at the World Health Assembly,” Blinken said in a press statement. “Members of civil society from around the world engage every day in activities at the UN, but Taiwan’s scientists, technical experts, businesspersons, artists, educators, students, human rights advocates, and others are blocked from entry and participating in these activities simply because of the passports they hold.”
For its part, The United States still maintains that there is only one China, the People’s Republic, but states that this should not mean Taiwan should be excluded from Global organizations.
China still acknowledges Taiwan as a province of China so, is unwilling to allow it to be recognized in any capacity, even just by allowing Taiwan to participate in global organizations.
“Taiwan has no right to join the United Nations,” Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing, said on Wednesday. “The United Nations is an international governmental organization composed of sovereign states.”
Chinas significant veto power in the UN general assembly means that Taiwan will be unlikely to participate in the near future in order to prevent any semblance of legitimacy from reaching the island republic.
Sources:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/25/chinas-un-seat-50-years-on
https://www.state.gov/supporting-taiwans-participation-in-the-un-system/
