On 6 September, in an opinion letter published on Belgium’s Le Soir, Taiwan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs David Tawei Lee urged the international community to support the country’s aspirations and right to fair treatment by the United Nations (UN).
Lee said in his article that while the UN should stand for symbols of equality, diversity and freedom, it has discriminated against people from Taiwan, simply because of their country of origin. Taiwanese visitors, journalists and NGOs are turned away at the door of the headquarters of the UN, and government officials were ‘refused attendance’ at the 70th World Health Assembly (WHA) in May of this year.
The article explained that such mistreatment dates back to 1971, with the invocation and misuse of General Assembly Resolution 2758 (XXVI), when Taiwan lost its representation in the UN. ‘It is important to remember that, while it seated the People’s Republic of China in the UN, this resolution did not address the issue of representation of Taiwan and its people in the organization; much less did it give the PRC the right to represent the people of Taiwan,’ Lee emphasized in his article.
Lee also mentioned Taiwan’s efforts to help maintain global peace, security and prosperity, and to help its partners worldwide develop and grow, in such areas as environmental protection, public health and medicine, agriculture, education and ICT.
Lee ended by saying that the government and people of Taiwan strongly believe that their involvement, especially when the UN is calling for the universal implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), would be ‘to the benefit of all.’
