Taipei, Sept. 8 (CNA) The Republic of China on Friday urged Beijing and the international community not to forget that the 21st century is a century of reconciliation when harmony should overpower conflict and cooperation take the place of confrontation.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) in a formal statement thanked the ROC's diplomatic allies for their strong support of Taiwan in speeches on the cause of ROC membership at the United Nations over the past several days.
MOFA spokesman Henry Chen made the statement here Friday morning, after a proposal demanding that the UN consider the issue of ROC membership failed to make the agenda for this year's UN General Assembly plenary session.
After a lengthy debate of three hours and 16 minutes by UN member countries on the Taiwan issue, the UN General Assembly's steering committee decided to block the proposal, jointly presented by 14 of the ROC's allies, from being included in the Assembly's agenda. The decision was handed down Thursday evening, New York time.
During the steering committee meeting, 19 of the ROC's allies spoke out in support of the ROC's UN bid, while 47 countries, including mainland China, Britain, France and the United States, voiced opposition to the ROC cause, Chen said.
He added that 21 of the ROC's allies had registered to speak in support of Taiwan's UN bid, but delegates from two nations were engaged in UN Millennium Summit activities that prevented them from speaking in support of Taiwan at the steering committee meeting.
This was the eighth consecutive year that a proposal calling on the UN to review its 1971 Resolution No. 2758 and adopt measures to include Taiwan in the world body has been blocked from inclusion in the UN General Assembly agenda. UN Resolution No. 2758 recognized the PRC as the legitimate representative of the people of China, at the expense of Taipei.
Chen noted that this year's UN bid was the first such attempt since the ROC successfully witnessed a peaceful transfer of power from the Kuomintang to the opposition Democratic Progressive Party.
Despite Taipei's series of goodwill gestures calling for cooperation for the sake of cross-strait peace and stability in the Asian-Pacific region, as well as for both sides playing greater roles in enhancing international cooperation, authorities in Beijing remain mired in their hegemonic sentiment towards Taiwan and once again acted to bar the Taiwan-related proposal from entering the UN agenda, he continued.
Chen went on to say that Taiwan is indignant over Beijing's underhanded tactic of claiming "anti-hegemonism" while fully demonstrating its hegemonic sentiment towards Taiwan in its actions.
The ROC sincerely urges the communist Chinese authorities to face squarely the undeniable fact that the ROC has been a republic since 1912, and that the ROC government has maintained its sovereignty on Taiwan since 1945, Chen stressed. Only the ROC government can represent the 23 million people of Taiwan in all international organizations, including the UN, he noted.
Chen reiterated that Taiwan's promotion of its UN membership is aimed only at securing the rights due to the 23 million people of Taiwan.
Should Beijing stick to its scheming to undermine the ROC's UN bid, it would not only demonstrate Beijing's refusal to face reality, but also deeply hurt the feelings of Taiwan citizens -- a deed that is adversely affecting the ultimate unification of China, he stressed. (By Deborah Kuo)
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