18 allies support Taiwan's bid at U.N. sessions: MOFA

Taipei, Oct. 4 (CNA) Eighteen of Taiwan's diplomatic allies voiced support for Taiwan's membership bid at the 62nd U.N. General Assembly session held Sept. 25 to Oct. 3, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) officials said Thursday.

Top leaders of 17 of Taiwan's diplomatic allies -- namely Honduras, Paraguay, El Salvador, Swaziland, Sao Tome and Principe, Nauru, Palau, Gambia, the Marshall Islands, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Tuvalu, the Solomon Islands, Burkina Faso, Belize, and Kiribati -- spoke in support of Taiwan's U.N. membership bid during the session, the officials said.

Speaking on the first day of the debate session on Sept.25, Panamanian President Martin Torrijos expressed concerns about the tension in the Taiwan Strait, urging countries in areas that face security threats to take steps to alleviate tensions and resolve disputes by peaceful means, according to the officials.

In their speeches delivered during the debate sessions, representatives of the 17 countries, including several heads of state, all pointed out that Taiwan, as an independent and peace-loving sovereign state, is qualified to become a U.N. member.

They cried foul at the United Nations' exclusion of Taiwan, saying such unfair treatment and discrimination should come to an end.

Moreover, they criticized U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for failing to impartially handle Taiwan's membership application in line with the U.N. Charter and relevant meeting regulations. They also demanded that the United Nations respond to the 23 million Taiwan people's aspiration and embrace Taiwan as a new member.

The leaders of Gambia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and the Solomon Islands further urged the United Nations to take active steps to alleviate cross-strait tensions and help hammer out a peaceful solution to the disputes between the two sides.

Among Taiwan's 24 diplomatic allies, only five -- Haiti, Nicaragua, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic and Malawi -- didn't speak up for Taiwan at this year's U.N. General Assembly session. Taiwan's one other ally -- the Vatican -- is not a U.N. member.

The MOFA expressed its gratitude in a news release for the diplomatic allies' generosity in lending faithful support to Taiwan's national cause and U.N. membership bid.

The ministry also reaffirmed the government's stance on the U.N. membership issues, saying the quest for U.N. representation under the name Taiwan is an established policy and urging the international community to resist China's pressure and make a just and sensible response to Taiwan's appeal.

Meanwhile, the U.N. representative of Malawi wrote letters to U.N. Secretary-General Ban, Srgjan Kerim, president of the 62nd session of the General Assembly, and Leslie Christian, Ghana's permanent representative to the U.N. who is serving as the president of the U.N. Security Council this month, urging the world body to deal with Taiwan's membership application "properly and seriously."