UN vetos Taiwan's attempt
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-09-17 00:25

The General Committee of the United Nations General Assembly decided at its 59th session on Wednesday not to include into the draft agenda of the current session the so-called "question of the representation of 23 million people of Taiwan in the UN.

The General Assembly has, for the 12th consecutive time, rejected Taiwan's attempt to join the world inter-governmental body of sovereign states.

Jean Ping, president of the current session of the UN General Assembly, announced the decision after a long debate on the issue, raised by Chad and a few other countries.

Addressing the session, Wang Guangya, Chinese permanent representative to the UN, said the purpose of a few countries is trying to create "two Chinas," "one China, one Taiwan" in the United Nations. This not only runs counter to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and the UNGA resolution 2758, but also constitutes a brazen challenge to the one-China principle widely recognized by the international community.

"The Chinese Government and people strongly condemn and firmly oppose such a gross encroachment on China's internal affairs," Wang said.

Delegates from 93 countries addressed the General Committee session in favour of China's position not to consider the issue, including Russia, France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Brazil, Nigeria and Indonesia.

Delegates from many countries expressed the belief that there is no such issue as Taiwan's representation in the UN. Many said that raising the issue of Taiwan's representation in the UN constituted a violation of the UN Charter and an interference in China's internal affairs.

Some noted that despite a clear decision of the General Assembly more than 34 years ago, the repetitious and wasteful debate has consumed the assembly's valuable time and energy which should have been devoted to more substantive issues. Some expressed hope that this is the last time the General Committee would discuss the issue.

Speaking to reporters after the session, Wang said the outcome testified once more the one-China policy has been the consensus of the international community and any attempts by a handful of elements who advocate "Taiwan's independence" to create "two Chinas," "one China, one Taiwan" is unpopular and deemed to fail. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said yesterday facts have shown Taiwan, as part of China, is not qualified to join in the United Nations which is made up of sovereign countries.

Since 1993, the Taiwan authority has annually goaded a small handful of countries to raise such proposals to the UN General Assembly, but those proposals all ended in failure, the spokesman said.

Any actions breaching the tenet of the UN Charter and Resolution 2758 of the UN General Assembly, or challenging the one-China principle highly acknowledged by the international community will absolutely not be supported by the vast majority of UN member countries, and will not be consented by the 1.3 billion Chinese including compatriots in Taiwan, Kong said.

"The Taiwan authority should stop such political tricks and return to the one-China principle," Kong said.

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