TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — This week, the United Nations (UN) was asked to justify its exclusionary policies towards Taiwanese visitors to the organization’s headquarters in New York, with one French reporter directly asking the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, “Is China running the UN?”
Several reporters pressed Spokesperson for the Secretary-General Stephane Dujarric about the basis of the policy that excludes Taiwanese nationals from UN buildings over two days this week, reported CNS News. On Monday (March 27), Yvonne Murray, a journalist with the Irish Times, asked about the topic after mentioning that Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) will visit the U.S. this week.
When asked by Murray if the UN leader has any message for Tsai, the president of “what’s considered Asia’s leading democracy,” Dujarric said that his position on the matter is “guided by the General Assembly’s resolution on the One China policy.”
“Sorry. I’m not asking about China. I’m asking about Taiwan,” Murray said. She then went on to ask why Taiwanese people are not allowed to enter UN buildings for tours or meetings.
Dujarric explained that only individuals with an ID issued by a member state of the UN may enter. However, the spokesperson was unprepared when Al Jazeera reporter James Bays followed up by asking if the decision to exclude Taiwanese people was based on a decision by the General Assembly or one by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Dujarric was not sure about the answer. Bays then pressed Dujarric further by saying, “It seems to me all of these people are citizens of the world. And I wouldn’t have thought that the secretary-general is someone who wants to practice discrimination.”
Later during Monday’s press conference, a French reporter, Celhia De Lavarene, returned to the issue of Taiwanese visitors being excluded from UN buildings. “I want to know, is China running the UN?” Lavarene asked bluntly.
Dujarric said Lavarene’s question was the most “ridiculous” he had heard that day. The Spokesperson for the General-Secretary then concluded his talk with the press.
On Tuesday (March 28), Dujarric was again asked about the issue by journalist Joe Klein during a daily briefing. Klein said he examined General Assembly resolution 2758, which expelled Chiang Kai-shek and his representatives from the UN body, but “there’s no reference to excluding the Taiwanese people from participation in UN activities.”
Dujarric, who was flustered in his reply, contested Klein’s use of the word “exclude,” but was unable to explain the origin and legal justification for the UN’s policy of not allowing Taiwanese people to enter UN buildings or join UN activities.
“I will get back to you as soon as I have the answer,” said Dujarric, before hastily moving on to another question.
