Taiwan calls for inclusion in United Nations activities

Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung has called for greater opportunities for Taiwan to participate meaningfully in United Nations activities, arguing that exclusion weakens efforts to build a fairer and more resilient international order.

In a statement titled “Restoring Trust: Taiwan’s Rightful Place in the Free World,” Lin said confidence in the United Nations must begin with fair and just treatment of members of the international community. “Ensuring Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the United Nations is therefore essential to building a more inclusive, secure, resilient, and rules-based international order,” he said.

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Ensuring Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the United Nations is therefore essential to building a more inclusive, secure, resilient, and rules-based international order

Lin said Taiwan’s participation could contribute to collective security, economic and technological resilience, and international efforts to resist authoritarian pressure. “The free world needs Taiwan, and a stronger, more credible United Nations needs Taiwan’s meaningful participation,” he said.

Taiwan remains excluded from the UN system but, Lin said, is determined to contribute positively to the international community. He argued that the transformation of the international order “cannot be complete while a constructive and trustworthy member remains unjustly excluded.”

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The free world needs Taiwan, and a stronger, more credible United Nations needs Taiwan’s meaningful participation

The minister said authoritarian states were seeking to weaken safeguards in the rules-based order and reshape international rules to serve their interests. He pointed to challenges to peaceful dispute settlement and the prohibition against the threat or use of force, principles enshrined in the UN Charter.

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cannot be complete while a constructive and trustworthy member remains unjustly excluded

Lin described the international community as being at a critical juncture. “Either we act together to uphold justice, defend the rule of law, and maintain peace and security, or we watch the world order steadily crumble away, taking freedom, self-determination, and democracy with it,” he said.

He identified the Indo-Pacific as a region where threats to peace and stability were particularly evident. Lin also said Taiwan shared the objectives of restoring trust in the United Nations and managing institutional transformation, themes he attributed to Khalilur Rahman, the incoming president of the 81st UN General Assembly. “Taiwan shares these objectives and stands ready to help realise them,” he said.

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Either we act together to uphold justice, defend the rule of law, and maintain peace and security, or we watch the world order steadily crumble away, taking freedom, self-determination, and democracy with it