(刊登於Taipei Times, Sep 26, 2007, Page 8)

For the last 14 years, Taiwan's application for UN membership under the name "Republic of China" has failed. This year, Taiwan applied for UN membership under the name "Taiwan" for the first time. The Taiwan UN Alliance (TAIUNA) sent a group to New York led by Cheng Ying-er (鄭英兒) to protest in front of the UN headquarters along with more than 2,000 Taiwanese Americans. They sought to make Taiwanese public opinion heard in the US and all over the world in the hope that all countries would respect Taiwan as a sovereign, independent country and support its entry into the UN.

Internationally, many people don't know that Taiwan is not a member of the UN and is blocked from becoming a UN member. This makes it difficult to consolidate the powers that can push for UN membership for Taiwan. The international support that we felt at the recent demonstration in the US inspired us deeply. A friend from the UK even told us he would remember Taiwan every Sunday in his prayers.

TAIUNA secretary-general William Lo (羅榮光) often says that in the global village of the 21st century, everything is connected. Taiwan's exclusion from international organizations not only harms Taiwan individually, but in terms of issues like regional stability or health, the whole world feels the gap when Taiwan is not allowed to participate. There is no reason why Taiwan should be excluded from international organizations. The country's efforts to join the UN are not only a movement for Taiwanese. These efforts should be internationalized to become a global movement.

Taiwan is currently participating in only 17 of the more than 700 existing international organizations. For the dignity of Taiwan's 23 million people, trying our best to win international acknowledgment is a responsibility that we cannot shirk.

If we lock ourselves up on our island and embrace passive defeatism, we will never get into the UN. We need to actively publicize Taiwan internationally. Our movie directors and athletes are world famous, and this should fill us with confidence about our own worthiness of becoming a UN member.

Pessimism and negativity and wallowing in self-pity cannot win Taiwan the respect of others.

By Liao LinLi-ling 廖林麗玲(the spokeswoman of the delegation "UN for Taiwan." )