Before October 25, 1971, Taiwan represented China at the United Nations as the Republic of China (ROC). This position was replaced by Beijing with the passing of Resolution 2758, in which Beijing would now be representing the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
The resolution meant that United Nations (UN) member states recognized the PRC as the “only legitimate representatives of China to the United Nations” and expelled “the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek”, the leader of the ROC at the time, from the UN. Consequently, the resolution has also been used to exclude Taiwan from other international organizations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO).
Back when Taiwan held the seat in the UN, it viewed itself as being a part of and representing all of territorial China. During these negotiations, it was about whether the PRC or the ROC would hold the seat that represented China as a whole. This was part of the reason for other countries’ lack of support to keep Taiwan’s position because of the seemingly unreasonable desire for Taiwan, with a much smaller population, to represent all of China, while there were a billion people in the PRC. However, Taiwan has since developed its own distinct identity as a nation and regular polling has shown that the majority of Taiwanese citizens identify as “Taiwanese” rather than as Chinese exiles.
Since then, Taiwan has been seeking to participate in the UN and other related international bodies, while Beijing has pushed back against Taiwan’s involvement. Despite never being invited officially as a sovereign nation, Taiwan still shows up to important international discussions like global aviation talks and international events like the Olympics. Through the years, Taiwan has attempted multiple times to re-enter the UN as a member, but it has been unsuccessful due to its contested status as a sovereign nation or province of China. Since the UN is made up of sovereign states, it is up to international discretion whether to recognize Taiwan as a sovereign nation and allow it to have representation in the UN. There could now be a possibility of this happening.
On Tuesday, October 26, the United States expressed its support for Taiwan in a statement by the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. In his statement, he encouraged all of the United Nations (UN) member states to support Taiwan’s “robust, meaningful participation throughout the UN system and in the international community.” He described Taiwan as a “democratic success story” whose model supports transparency, respect for human rights, and rule of law – all of which are values that are aligned with the UN. The US officially recognizes the People’s Republic of China in Beijing but also maintains relations with Taiwan under the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979 with “strategic ambiguity.”
Despite not having diplomatic ties, the US has been one of Taiwan’s main supporters. Though Taiwan has few allies, numbering about 15, it has garnered international support in recent years because of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which many countries and tech companies depend on. TSMC produces an estimated 50% of the world’s supply of semiconductors and is depended on by some of the largest technology companies, such as Apple and Qualcomm.
More recently, due to Taiwan’s successful COVID-19 response, the G-7 countries backed Taiwan’s observer status in the World Health Assembly in May 2021, providing an avenue for Taiwan’s potential meaningful participation in international affairs. At the very least, it showed that countries are willing to acknowledge Taiwan’s participation. Taiwan has evidently developed into a distinct entity apart from China and has demonstrated that it has valuable contributions to offer.
However, Taiwan’s chance for meaningful representation will not come easy. In response to the US’s statement on support for Taiwan’s participation in the UN, China’s spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing Ma Xiaoguang stated that the “United Nations is an international governmental organisation composed of sovereign states” and that Taiwan has “no right to join the United Nations” because it “is a part of China.” China holds the view from Resolution 2578 that recognizes one China only, where Beijing is the only representative.
Now, Taiwan seeks to participate in the UN as a de facto independent nation under the name of Taiwan.
The Deputy Representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the U.S. stated that “nowadays, the resolution is often wrongly cited to exclude Taiwan’s participation in the meetings and activities in the UN system.” This exclusion is what Taiwan aims to revert by seeking UN representation as an independent nation, rather than as part of China.
Since 2016, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has been a fierce advocate for asserting Taiwan’s sovereignty. Despite China’s increasing efforts to achieve reunification, she has only responded with stronger pushback. President Tsai Ing-Wen has said that if Taiwan were to surrender to China, it would have “catastrophic” implications for peace in Asia. To garner support from other democratic nations, she stated last month that “when authoritarian regimes demonstrate expansionist tendencies, democratic countries should come together to stand against them. Taiwan is on the front lines.”
In terms of Taiwan-China negotiations, President Tsai Ing-Wen has said that she is willing to have dialogue with the Chinese government to foster better cross-strait relations. From China’s perspective, though, Taiwan’s fight for independence is but a small blip in its history of being a province of China. John Culver of the Central Intelligence Agency, who analyzed East Asian Affairs throughout his 35-year long career, speculated in an interview this year that “Taiwan is an issue that the CCP sees as a threat to its legitimacy” and that China has more recently “framed ‘reunification’ as a requirement for achieving the ‘China Dream’ tied to the CCP’s long standing goals for 2049, the 100th anniversary of the PRC’s founding.” Most likely, China is not willing to discuss a compromise that would give Taiwan independence.
Despite support from countries such as the US, it is unclear if it is possible for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the UN and other international organizations. It has already proved difficult for Taiwan to achieve “superficial participation” as an observer in the UN. In recent times, China has been increasing its military and political pressures on Taiwan, demonstrating its aim to achieve official reunification. China is also highly influential in the UN General Assembly and it has vowed to defend its bottom line of sovereignty, so it is unlikely Taiwan would be given the agency for meaningful participation.
Being a part of the UN would help Taiwan foster democracy and promote self-determination and independence. With its impressive development into a democratic nation and its valuable approaches to global issues, like technology and health, UN participation would give them a platform to further evolve and contribute meaningfully in response to some of the world’s most pressing problems.
Through the lens of history, Taiwan has always been a part of China – will history repeat itself or will Taiwan pave a new way?
Edited by Isabel Muñoz
Laurie Chan is in her second year at McGill University majoring in Sociology. As a writer for Catalyst, she hopes to explore the topics of race, immigration, and criminal justice, particularly in the context of the Asian diaspora.
Thank you for the well -written article. I would like to point out that the Communist Chinese Party (CCP）has never ruled Taiwan in history.