TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s foreign ministry has denied it seeks to join the United Nations under the name “Taiwan” after an Australian media outlet published a story that said it did.
ABC News Australia published an article on Tuesday (Sept. 19) that said Taiwan sought to join the 78th U.N. General Assembly. “For the first time in history Taiwan officials have used the name ‘Taiwan’ to (try to) join the UN without mentioning the return of the Republic of China,” the article read.
However, a spokesperson for Taiwan’s foreign ministry told Taiwan Fact Check Center the report was not true.
Taiwan’s strategy is to promote its own participation in the U.N. system, through specialized agencies such as the World Health Organization and others, the spokesperson said. It is not applying to join the U.N. in the name of Taiwan as rumored, they said.
In the run up to the 78th U.N. General Assembly, Taiwan’s foreign minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) lobbied for his country’s inclusion in U.N. systems. Writing in the Telegraph, Wu said the resolution often cited as reason for Taiwan’s exclusion from the organization does not give China the right to represent Taiwan.
“We call on the U.N. to uphold its principle of leaving no one behind by allowing Taiwan to participate in the U.N. system,” Wu wrote. He did not mention membership for Taiwan as a sovereign state.
Taiwan’s government was expelled from the U.N. in 1971 after a resolution was passed that recognized the PRC as the "the only legitimate representative of China to the United Nations." At that time the government of Taiwan pursued plans to restore its control over China, which were abandoned in 1990.