Taiwan has sought the support of Indonesia at the 63rd UN General Assembly, for its "meaningful participation" in the UN specialized agencies, Taiwan's trade representative said in Jakarta.
"We expect Indonesia will openly support Taiwan's bid to participate in the activities of the UN specialized agencies," Taipei Economic & Trade Office (TETO) Indonesia representative Timothy Chin-tien told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
Indonesia is currently a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.
In a major shift under the leadership of President Ma Ying-jeou, Taiwan adopted a modus vivendi and (with a clear aim for a rapprochement) has been pursuing a more pragmatic diplomacy toward China, which considers it a renegade province.
"This year we are not bidding for UN membership. We are focusing on the UN specialized agencies," Timothy said.
He was referring to UN agencies like the World Health Organization, International Maritime Organization and UN Children's Fund.
"These organizations are the most important multilateral platforms from which global issues are dealt with. All these years, the 23 million people of Taiwan have been denied participation in the conferences, mechanisms and conventions of the UN and its specialized agencies," Timothy said.
Taiwan submitted its proposal on Aug. 14 to the UN Secretariat. It is expected Taiwan's proposal will be placed as a supplementary item on the provisional agenda of the 63rd UN session which begins on Tuesday.
"Our proposal is based on functional and technical considerations, and is therefore moderate, pragmatic and non-confrontational," Timothy said.
China has not yet commented on the proposal.
Given Indonesia's "One China Policy," it may wait for China's reaction first, but in previous instances Indonesia has outright rejected Taiwan's bids to join the UN.
As Taiwan is now not seeking UN membership, but asking to participate in the UN specialized agencies, most countries at the UN are still in a dilemma as to whether to support them or not. -- JP/Veeramalla Anjaiah
