President Ma Ying-jeou on the morning of July 3 at the Presidential Office met with Solomon Islands Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) Ambassador Collin Beck, Republic of Honduras Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Jorge A. Reina, Republic of Nauru Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Marlene Moses and Dominican Republic Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Mr. Francis Lorenzo. The president, on behalf of the government and people of the ROC (Taiwan), extended a warm welcome to the guests and also expressed his appreciation to them.
President Ma said that in 1971, UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 replaced the Republic of China as the representative of China in the UN. He said that in the decades since then, the 23 million people of the ROC on Taiwan have not had any representation or participation in the UN. As a result, the people of Taiwan hope to be able to return to the UN, and enter or return to other international organizations.
President Ma furthermore expressed that the previous administration sought to apply to enter the UN using the name "Taiwan." This effort, however, met many roadblocks both this year and last year, he said. In recent years, the president said, we have consistently desired to join the World Health Organization (WHO) and WHO-organized activities, such as the World Health Assembly. To this point, however, our participation in these events remains limited and has not reached the level of being meaningful. President Ma said that the ROC's allies have spoken on behalf of Taiwan many times at the WHO and other related conferences. He added that the 23 million people of Taiwan are deeply grateful for the support provided by the nation's allies. He said this demonstrates that the bond of friendship between the ROC on Taiwan and its allies is long-lasting and that this provides an important foundation on which bilateral cooperation will continue. The president said the ROC will continue to make every effort to join the WHO.
The president stressed that after he and Vice President Vincent C. Siew were inaugurated, the two have promoted cross-strait policies that are different from those of the previous administration. He said that the hope is to ease tensions on many fronts in the Taiwan Strait and to improve relations with Mainland China. The president said that another important consideration in promoting cross-strait relations is to enable Taiwan to no longer be an orphan in the international community. In the process of improving relations with Mainland China, the president said that the ROC on Taiwan will continue to solidify its alliances and friendships with its diplomatic allies. Bilateral cooperation projects will continue and when conditions permit, projects will be extended or expanded.
The four diplomats from the Solomon Islands, Honduras, Nauru and the Dominican Republic were accompanied to the Presidential Office in the morning by Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrew Li-Yan Hsia.