UN rejects Taiwan's membership bid
(Agencies)Updated: 2007-07-24 10:24
 Wang Guangya, China's ambassador to the United Nations, speaks to reporters on Monday at the UN headquarters after the UN rejected Taiwan's application to join the world body, praising the UN's rejection of the bid. [Xinhua]  |
The application was returned by the UN Office of Legal Affairs, according to the UN's Chinese-language website.
The United Nations rejected the application on Monday, citing a 1971 resolution that recognizes the People's Republic of China as the lawful representative to the world body.
"This resolution determined that the UN carries out a 'one China' policy," the UN said.
Taiwan was expelled from the UN in 1971.
China's UN Ambassador Wang Guangya highly praised the UN's rejection of the application.
Wang said it was an absurd act for the representatives of three countries, including the Solomon Islands, to submit an application letter for UN membership, on behalf of Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian, to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon last Thursday.
The ambassador said the Chinese government firmly opposes this blatant attempt at splitting China, reiterating that articles of the UN Charter stipulate only a sovereign state can apply for a UN membership, and Taiwan is part of China. He added that Taiwan is ineligible to join the UN in any name or in any way.
A spokesperson from the UN secretariat confirmed on Monday that it had returned the letter one day after it received it, according to UN's General Assembly Resolution 2758.
Wang Guangya said the immediate return of the letter helps guarantee the solemnity of the UN Charter as well as the authority of the UN.
The ambassador also expressed his belief that the Chinese
government will continue to gain the support of the UN, and its member states,
in the cause of maintaining China's sovereignty and territorial
integrity.
In Beijing, China on Tuesday branded Taiwan leader Chen
Shui-bian a "schemer" for his attempt to push Taiwan into the United Nations,
saying that "Taiwan independence" activities are doomed to fail.
The
Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the
Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council made the remark in a statement
following the UN rejection of Taiwan authorities' application to join the United
Nations under the name of Taiwan.
The statement said the decision was
made in keeping with resolution 2758 of the UN General Assembly, which
determined that the United Nations abides by the one-China policy.
The
resolution, which was adopted in 1971 at the 26th UN General Assembly, says,
"The representatives of the government of the People's Republic of China are the
only lawful representatives of China to the United Nations".
Move
Opposed by US, Russia
On July 19, the island applied to join the United Nations as Taiwan. The
bid reflected the policies of Chen Shui-bian, who favors making the
island's de facto independence.
It was roundly condemned by Beijing, and
also opposed by the United States, which saw it as an effort to change the
fragile status quo that has governed relations among the three since Washington
transferred its diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in
1979.
The US also accepts the "one China" policy.
Russia opposes
to the "referendum on joining the United Nations" pushed by the Chen Shui-bian
authorities and Taiwan's attempt to join the United Nations under any name or by
any means, as well as the so-called "Taiwan independence," said a senior
diplomat in Moscow on Monday.
Russia has noticed that the Chen Shui-bian
authorities is speeding up efforts in promoting a "referendum on joining the
United Nations" and seeking "UN membership under the name Taiwan", said deputy
Foreign Minister Alexander Yakovenko.
Russia regards such moves as
dangerous splittism activities which will pose grave threat to peace and
security across the Taiwan Straits and in the Asian-Pacific region, Yakovenko
told Chinese ambassador to Russia Liu Guchang in a meeting.
Russia
unswervingly and firmly supports Chinese government's stance on the Taiwan
issue, holding that there's only one China in the world, the government of the
People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing China as a
whole and Taiwan is an indivisible part of China, he said.
Moscow's such
stance has been stated in the Russia-China Friendly Treaty on Good-Neighborly
Cooperation inked in 2001 and President Vladimir Putin reiterated it in a
meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi earlier this month, he
noted.
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