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Currently, Taiwanese officials can enter the UN headquarters for meetings only with diplomatic credentials issued by the United States Department of State. It is said that because of Xi Jin-ping's visit to the US, the UN started to restrict the related rights of Taiwan.
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Recently Taiwanese citizens were rejected visitation of the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) after showing ROC passports. Now even officials from the Taipei Cultural and Economic Office in New York are not allowed to enter the United Nations Headquarters on business trips holding ROC passports since the first half of this year.
Currently, Taiwanese officials can enter the UN headquarters for meetings only with diplomatic credentials issued by the United States Department of State. It is said that because of Xi Jin-ping’s visit to the US, the UN started to restrict the related rights of Taiwan.
Apple Daily reports, since Taiwan left the UN in 1971, the UN no longer recognizes the ROC. This has led to the restrictions Taiwanese officials and citizens encounter when entering the UN. Sometimes people can enter with the ROC passport, sometimes they can’t.
It is noted that when the Taiwanese officials were blocked outside the UN earlier this year, the Taiwanese government asked for explanations from the UN and held negotiations through countries like the US and Japan. On October 20, Hsu Pei-yung, the director general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of International Organizations, said that the UN has yet to respond.
NOWnews reports, the current situation is that in the meetings in Geneva, Switzerland and the World Health Organization (WHO), Taiwanese academics and officials can attend with two valid documents issued by the Taiwan government. However, for all the meetings held in the UN headquarters in New York, Taiwanese citizens can only enter with diplomatic credentials issued by the US Department of State. All the documents issued by the Taiwan government will not be accepted.
UDN reports, Hsu says that Taiwanese tourists can visit the UN headquarter in New York with ROC passports just like visitors of other nationalities. As for visiting the Palace of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, one must have two documents, including passport and a government-issued document, such as a driver’s license or health insurance card, in order to visit the building.
Translated by Vic Chiang
Edited by Olivia Yang
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