On Sept. 18, leaders from the 193 United Nations member countries will gather in New York to kick off the fall meeting of the General Assembly—a key organ of the UN in which all countries have equal standing.

Unlike Canadians, the 23 million people of Taiwan will not be represented at these discussions. Taiwanese leaders will not speak at the sessions and Taiwanese journalists will not be able to join their professional colleagues in covering these events. All this is because the UN continues to misuse 1971’s General Assembly Resolution 2758 to justify Taiwan’s exclusion and isolation.

In stark contrast, Canada will be represented by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, and their delegation. Ms. Freeland will address the General Assembly on behalf of Canada, and the prime minister will also attend other UN-related events in New York from Sept. 24 to 26.

The upcoming meetings and events present ideal opportunities for the Canadian delegation to lend a hand to Taiwan, which has no voice in any of the forums. Indeed, speaking up in support of some form of meaningful participation for Taiwan would be in perfect alignment with Prime Minister Trudeau’s statement in St. John’s, N.L., at the conclusion of a cabinet retreat last year.

“I look forward to returning to New York to the UN, to talk about all the positive ways that Canada is continuing to engage in the world. This is a world where we are seeing a broad range of challenges…There are many challenges in the world, and Canada, as always will look to be helpful. It’s who we are, it’s what we do.”

Canada has many reasons to be helpful to Taiwan. Like Canada, Taiwan, has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted at the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2015 which set bold goals to shift the world onto a sustainable, resilient path. Taiwan has made exemplary efforts (as has Canada) in advancing gender equality and Indigenous rights, two key goals of Agenda 2030.

Indeed, despite being excluded from the UN system, Taiwan has released its first Voluntary National Review last year, detailing its whole-of-government approach to implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The concrete results Taiwan has achieved include alleviating poverty, zero hunger, reducing the percentage of low-income households to under two per cent, cutting the maternal mortality rate to just 11.6 per 100,000 people and under-five child mortality rate to just 2.4 per 1,000, and improving the country’s literacy rate to 98.7 per cent. All of these are well above UN SDG standards.

Article 1 of the UN Charter proclaims that the purposes of the organization are to “achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, and humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights.”

Taiwan, like Canada, provides development assistance to other countries. Through the International Cooperation and Development Fund (TaiwanICDF), Taiwan’s official development assistance organization, it has launched various programs in the Pacific, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. These programs aim to help countries in these regions to achieve clean energy, food security, food safety, sustainable agriculture, better education, health and well-being for all age groups, and disaster reduction and adaptation.

TaiwanICDF also works with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to assist countries in Central Asia and Central and Eastern Europe to develop market economies and a green economy.

Canadian leaders are well aware that at this critical juncture in human history when the world is facing multiple challenges, global cooperation that includes all countries, all stakeholders, and all people is even more important.

By urging the UN to include Taiwan, Canada would be helping the world community to be benefited from Taiwan’s expertise and experience in moving the 2030 Agenda forward. Canada would also be demonstrating one more positive way of engaging with the world as Prime Minister Trudeau promised, while strengthening its reputation as a champion of human rights and inclusion. It would also earn the goodwill of the 23 million people of Taiwan, including 200,000 people of Taiwanese descent residing in Canada.

https://www.hilltimes.com/2018/09/17/supporting-taiwans-participation-line-canadas-un-goals/169388