The 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly is now underway in New York, but for many years Taiwan has been excluded from the United Nations system, unable to participate in discussions on global issues. What is different this year is that the U.S. government has significantly stepped up its support for Taiwan’s international participation, not only speaking out for Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Assembly in May, but also publicly advocating for Taiwan’s full participation in the United Nations system for the first time this week.
U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Kelly Craft tweeted on Tuesday (September 29), calling for Taiwan’s full participation in the United Nations system. She said, “The world needs Taiwan’s full participation in the United Nations, especially when it comes to issues related to public health and economic development.”
This tweet comes on the heels of a video conference on “Advancing International Development through Public-Private Partnerships” under the Global Cooperation and Training Framework (GCTF), which the United States, Japan, and Taiwan attended and spoke at.
During the conference, Krafft said that President Trump is a trusted friend of Taiwan and that the Trump administration embraces Taiwan’s role in the international arena, according to the full text of his remarks posted on the U.S. Mission to the United Nations website.
“All of us gathered here know that Taiwan and its government defend human rights and practice democracy. Taiwan has one of the strongest economies in the world, and its commitment to education, health, and civil liberties is widely respected. Taiwan is a force for good in the world. The world needs Taiwan’s full participation in the United Nations, especially when it comes to issues related to public health and economic development. A United Nations without Taiwan’s full participation is a fraud on the world.”
Krafft also criticized the Chinese Communist Party for “fearing a free and open society and doing everything in its power to oppress Taiwan’s international status. This was made abundantly clear in the life-and-death issue of the new coronavirus, when Beijing blocked Taipei’s attempt to warn the world that the virus can be transmitted through human contact. All of us need Taiwan’s expertise and experience.”
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted photos of the videoconference on its official Twitter feed on Wednesday, tweeting, “The first ever Global Cooperation and Training Framework (GCTF) meeting between Taiwan, the United States and Japan on the fringes of the UN General Assembly was a great success! Minister Wu shared ideas on advancing international development through public-private partnerships with over 100 scholars and experts from more than 20 countries. The consensus was clear: Taiwan can help.”
During the U.N. General Assembly, the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations appeared on the same platform as Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Stephen Wu, demonstrating the Trump administration’s continued growth in support for Taiwan.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen also retweeted Krafft’s tweet, saying, “It’s great to have a partner like the U.S.! Thank you, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, for recognizing Taiwan’s contributions to public health and economic development and for supporting our inclusion in the United Nations system. We know that we can do more for the world with more international participation.”
Taiwan’s representative to the U.S., Hsiao Mei-chin, also retweeted Krafft’s tweet on her personal Twitter account, but she took more notice of a teddy bear that appears behind Krafft’s photo: “By the way, I prefer the bear in the background.”
In retweeting Krafft’s tweet, Liang-Qi Hsiao, executive director of the Center for Global Taiwan Studies, told unsuspecting readers about the bear’s origins, saying, “To be precise, that’s the Taiwanese black bear, a cultural symbol of Taiwan, sitting in front of the window behind the ambassador.”
In response to Krafft’s statement on Taiwan’s participation in the United Nations, the Taiwanese American Organization for Public Affairs (FAPA) expressed its gratitude in a Facebook statement.
President Akiko Kan said, “FAPA is very grateful to Ambassador Krafft for supporting Taiwan’s efforts to have a role at the United Nations. However, we at FAPA believe that Taiwan should be a full member of all international organizations, including those that require sovereignty for membership. After all, Taiwan is a country, despite China’s unfounded and unjustified declarations to the contrary.”
Just as Craft spoke out for Taiwan’s full participation in the United Nations, State Department Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Kelley Currie, who recently accompanied Deputy Secretary of State Cratch to Taiwan, also said Wednesday at a forum on women’s leadership in the post-epidemic era that the United States will work with Taiwan to promote women’s participation in economic recovery after the New Crown epidemic.
She said that women are an important driver of global economic recovery in the post-epidemic era, and that Taiwan has much experience to share in this area and to contribute to the international community.
In a video conference co-organized by the Taiwan Office in New York, the Foundation for Women’s Rights for Development, and several Taiwanese NGOs to promote Goal 5 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): gender equality, Taiwan’s representative to the U.S., Hsiao Mei-chin, also called for Taiwan to be included in the U.N. system so that Taiwan’s women’s rights organizations can participate in the global platform to speak out on women’s issues.
Women NGO activists have worked tirelessly to link the progress of Taiwan’s civil society to the world. Women NGO activists have worked tirelessly to connect the progress of Taiwan’s civil society to the world. For years they have tried to speak out on the international stage for women’s issues around the world, but have been subjected to tremendous pressure, marginalization, and unfair treatment by the United Nations system. Their passion for justice deserves better. As global citizens, they should not be excluded from the meetings of NGOs affiliated with the UN and its related agencies.”
Over the past years, the Taiwanese government has spoken out for Taiwan during the General Assembly’s general debates in the United Nations General Assembly through its diplomatic allies, as well as organizing side events to call the attention of the international community to the unfairness of Taiwan’s inability to participate in discussions on global issues and the contributions Taiwan can make to the world.
This year, one of Taiwan’s demands for participation in the United Nations is to ask the United Nations to allow Taiwan to participate in its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related meetings, mechanisms and activities on an equal and dignified basis. According to Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this year 14 of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies sent a letter to the United Nations Secretary-General in support of Taiwan’s participation in the United Nations system.
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