Five African allies support Taiwan's United Nations bid

Leaders from Swaziland, Burkina Faso, Sao Tome and Principe, Malawi and Gambia issued the declaration of support for the controversial bid at the end of the one-day summit held in Taipei.

“Taiwan, as a sovereign country, should not be deprived of its right to participate in the United Nations, the World Health Organization and other international organizations,” the declaration stated.

“Taiwan’s African allies support Taiwan’s legitimate right to join the U.N. and its specialized agencies such as the World Health Organization,” the statement continued.

When speaking at the opening ceremony of the first Taiwan-Africa Head of State Summit at the Grand Hotel in Taipei, President Chen Shui-bian said as a member of the global village, Taiwan is more than willing to help defend African peace and security in line with the U.N.’s Millennium Declaration, although Taiwan is still shut out of the UN due to China’s obstruction.

Chen pointed out that Taiwan hopes to initiate and establish a “World Environment Organization” with leaders from all of its diplomatic allies and other like-minded countries to implement global environmental governance and to more actively and effectively handle severe challenges to the global environment by integrating the strengths of its members.

The president also stressed that holding Taiwan’s first leadership summit with its African allies will not only help reinforce mutual understanding but will also mark a milestone in the development of Taiwan-Africa cooperative relations and the nation’s participation in international affairs.

Although geographically far apart, Taiwan and its diplomatic allies in Africa are enjoying increasingly close ties with each other, he said, adding that bilateral assistance and cooperation between Taiwan and the African nations can be traced back to the 1960s.

In addition to having technical, medical and handicraft missions stationed in African nations, Chen said, Taiwan is also offering scholarships to sponsor African young people seeking to study on the island, and organizing seminars on food processing and agricultural policies and development to help them nurture talent.

In terms of technological cooperation, Chen noted that Taiwan will help its diplomatic allies establish digital opportunity centers, boost digitalization to upgrade administrative efficiency, nurture information talent and bridge the digital divide.

As for economic and trade exchanges, Chen said his administration will assist diplomatic allies in developing export-oriented industries and small and medium-sized enterprises, and encouraging Taiwanese manufacturers to invest in the African countries by taking advantage of various preferential treatments as set forth in the “Jung Pang” Project.

Taiwan will also help the allies improve their public health systems, enhance efforts to prevent the spread of various communicable diseases, and upgrade their medical level and environmental management capabilities, Chen said.

Also yesterday, Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang said the Taiwan-Africa Head of State Summit is a normal form of diplomatic activity aimed at promoting mutual cooperation and prosperity.

Huang made the remarks after officials with China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticized the summit as part of Taiwan’s “checkbook diplomacy,” designed to promote its de jure independence.

“China’s linking such purely diplomatic activity to Taiwan independence demonstrates that Beijing’s authorities are behaving hysterically in their efforts to isolate the nation diplomatically,” Huang told reporters.

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