Beijing will never let Taipei participate in UN, former envoy to US says

Cui Tiankai says talks between US and Taiwanese officials for ‘meaningful’ UN role ‘totally went against the tide of history’

He says 1971 resolution that expelled the island from the global body made clear there was ‘only one China’

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Cui Tiankai stepped down in June as China’s longest-serving ambassador to the United States. Photo: Reuters

Published: 6:43pm, 25 Oct 2021Updated: 11:42pm, 25 Oct 2021

Beijing would never allow Taipei to participate in the United Nations, a former Chinese diplomat said, as tensions flared after US and Taiwanese officials discussed a “meaningful” UN role for the self-ruled island.

“This totally went against the tide of history,” Cui Tiankai said on Monday in his first public appearance since he stepped down in June as China’s longest-serving ambassador to the United States.

“UN Resolution 2758 – passed five decades ago – made it clear that there’s only one China in the world, and it was also recognised by the Americans, so why are they now trying to reverse this?” Cui said when asked about Washington’s latest move to upgrade its relationship with Taiwan.

“There must be another motive, which will never win out – and we will never let it.”

Cui was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting in the Chinese capital marking 50 years since Beijing took a seat at the United Nations.

Resolution 2758 was passed in 1971, formally expelling Taiwan – under its official name the Republic of China – and instead switching recognition to Beijing as “the only legitimate representative of China” at the United Nations.

China on Monday marked five decades since it took a seat at the United Nations. Photo: Getty Images