On December 5th, President Chen Shui-bian met with and expressed his wholehearted welcome to Ambassador Alfred Capelle, Permanent Representative of the Marshall Islands to the UN, Ambassador Iván Romero-Martínez, Permanent Representative of Honduras to the UN, and Minister Juan Alfredo Buffa, Deputy Permanent Representative of Paraguay to the UN.
In the reception, President Chen expressed his highest respect and deepest thanks to the three allies for speaking out for Taiwan's bid to participate in the UN, signing a proposal for maintaining peace and security in East Asia, and voicing for Taiwan in the international community.
"It is a basic human right for all mankind to participate in the UN," President Chen stressed. "This right of the 23 million people of Taiwan should not be ignored by the international community." He thus called for respect for the representation of Taiwan's 23 million people in the UN based on the principle of universality of membership proclaimed in the UN Charter.
On Taiwan's effort to join the UN, President Chen said Taiwan is actively planning to apply for UN membership under the name of Taiwan so as to avoid the irrelevant issue of "who represents the only one China". He also expressed his hope that the allies can offer their suggestions and opinions in this concern.
Though Taiwan has striven to no avail for UN membership for 14 years, President Chen said he believes that with the concerted efforts of its allies, it will eventually succeed in its bid to participate in the UN.