It is long past time for Taiwan again to be included in the United Nations. Reasons include the need to address growing military tensions in the Taiwan Strait and to acknowledged Taiwan’s thriving democracy and economic importance.
That economic importance includes Taiwan’s enormous role in global supply chains. It produces more than 90 percent of the world’s high-end semiconductors and a significant portion of the advanced chips that drive the artificial intelligence revolution. Moreover, half of the world’s seaborne trade passes through the Taiwan Strait. Peace and stability around Taiwan has promoted global prosperity.
Meanwhile, China continues to intensify its aggression against Taiwan. Its attempts to change the status quo across the Taiwan Strait and expand its authoritarian ideology throughout the Indo-Pacific region are a profound threat to peace and security all around the world.
In recent years, global leaders have used both bilateral and multilateral events, including the meetings of the Group of Seven industrial nations, EU, NATO and the Association of South East Asian Nations, to highlight the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. The UN, however, is not tackling the issue. To do so meaningfully, the organisation would need to incorporate Taiwan, which it has not done since 1971.
Various countries have come up with new approaches to engaging with Taiwan, for example by creating observer or partner positions in organisations such as the Pacific Islands Forum. By working with Taiwan, they have shown that the idea that there must be a choice between China and Taiwan, as is insisted on in the UN system, is false.
The first and most urgent task that the UN must address is to stop succumbing to China’s pressure and oppose distortion of the 1971 UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, by which the People’s Republic of China replaced the Republic of China (the government based in Taipei, Taiwan) in the UN.
China wilfully misrepresents Resolution 2758 by conflating it with its own ‘one-China principle’, which insists that Taiwan is part of China (unlike the ‘one-China policies’ adopted by many countries, which merely recognise the People’s Republic of China without saying that it includes Taiwan). In doing so, China has relentlessly suppressed Taiwan’s legitimate right to meaningfully participate in the UN and its specialised agencies.
This misrepresentation has far-reaching consequences beyond denying Taiwanese citizens and journalists access to UN premises and preventing them from visiting, attending meetings and engaging in newsgathering. In fact, Beijing’s tactic of distorting the meaning of Resolution 2758 to spread the fallacy that Taiwan is part of the People’s Republic of China is one of the key elements in a wider campaign to establish the legal basis for justifying a future armed invasion of Taiwan.
In fact, Resolution 2758 merely addresses the issue of China’s representation in the UN. It does not mention Taiwan. It neither states that Taiwan is part of China nor ascribes to China any right to represent Taiwan in the UN system. In other words, the resolution has nothing to do with Taiwan.
This case illustrates China’s growing assertiveness on the international stage. If left unchallenged, Beijing’s false claims will not only alter the status quo across the Taiwan Strait; they will also jeopardise peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific and threaten the rules-based international order.
Throughout 2024, several senior US officials have criticised China’s distortion of Resolution 2758 to justify its spurious claims over Taiwan. Furthermore, on 30 July the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an international organisation comprising more than 250 lawmakers from 38 countries and the EU, demonstrated concrete support for Taiwan by passing a model resolution on UN General Assembly Resolution 2758. The model resolution said that to maintain international peace and security as outlined in the UN Charter, the UN must return to and encourage a correct interpretation of Resolution 2758 and explore means of resisting China’s aggressive ambitions.
China’s expansionism will not stop at Taiwan. Recent regulations introduced by the China Coast Guard are part of a broader grey-zone campaign designed to reinforce their specious territorial claims and expand its influence. By introducing rules that justify the boarding and detaining of vessels and allowing individuals to enter disputed maritime areas, Beijing aims to assert control over international waters and challenge global norms. Everyone must not only reaffirm their concerns about Beijing’s coercive behaviour but also work together to prevent its unlawful actions.
History has shown that democratic resolve must be demonstrated proactively. The current 79th UN General Assembly and its Summit of the Future present a timely opportunity to address key security concerns.
Over many decades, Taiwan has proven to be a responsible and reliable partner to those it has worked with. More recently, we have also made significant contributions to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Looking ahead, Taiwan will continue to play its part. Working with like-minded countries to maintain healthy and resilient global supply chains, particularly in the semiconductor industry, Taiwan is determined to help power the world forward for many more decades to come.
For a more secure and better world, the UN should include Taiwan.
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