Beijing has for decades tried to isolate Taiwan internationally, arguing that it has no right to join the UN, which requires statehood for membership.

Since the 1990s, Taiwan has sought to join the UN almost every year with no avail. It failed again last month at the UN General Assembly meeting.

Today, Taiwan is a member of some 140 organisations, some of which are UN-affiliated groups that do not require country status but have limited influence compared with UN agencies with statehood.

It also has limited observer status in groups such as the World Health Organization’s International Health Regulations body but it cannot contribute “meaningfully” by offering expertise or input.

China-US tensions escalates after Blinken calls for UN support of Taiwan

Describing Taiwan’s participation in the UN “not a political issue, but a pragmatic” one, Blinken said: “Taiwan’s exclusion undermines the important work of the UN and its related bodies, all of which stand to benefit greatly from its contributions. We need to harness the contributions of all stakeholders toward solving our shared challenges.”

Observers said Blinken’s statement represented a toughening of the US position in campaigning for the island’s bid.

“The statement came just days after the US accused Beijing of misusing Resolution 2758 in blocking Taiwan. It also came just days after it held a virtual meeting with Taiwan to discuss ways to join the UN system meaningfully,” said Li Da-jung, a professor of international relations and strategic studies at Tamkang University in Taipei.

On October 21, Rick Waters, a US deputy assistant secretary of state at the department’s bureau of East Asia and Pacific affairs, said in a virtual talk hosted by the Washington-based German Marshall Fund that Beijing had “misused Resolution 2758 to prevent Taiwan’s meaningful participation”.

His comment supported the argument by the government of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen that Resolution 2758 merely dealt with the People’s Republic’s representation rights in the UN, but never authorised the People’s Republic to represent Taiwan in the UN system – nor did it mention that Taiwan was a part of the People’s Republic.

Three days later, the US State Department disclosed that high-level US and Taiwanese officials had an online meeting concerning how Taiwan could take part at the United Nations and in other international organisations and thus contribute input on global challenges.

With the US leading the way, countries like Japan, Australia, New Zealand and those in the European Union have followed suit, offering their support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the UN – perhaps, Li suggested, because they also feel the threat from Beijing.

Observers said that in recent years, Taiwan had dropped its old strategy of trying to return to the United Nations under the official diplomatic name of Republic of China (ROC). Instead, it has tried to take part in UN-affiliated organisations – a tactic that has gained support internationally.

Wang Kung-yi, head of the Taiwan International Strategic Study Society, a Taipei think tank, said Taiwan’s UN campaign could be divided into three stages.

“First was for the use of its official ROC title to return to the United Nations during then-president Lee Teng-hui’s time before 2000; second was during Chen Shui-bian’s time as president between 2000 and 2008 when he tried to use the name ‘Taiwan’ for the island to join the UN as a new member.

“The third stage is for Taiwan to seek to take part meaningfully in the United Nations,” Wang said, adding that the approach actually was started by Ma Ying-jeou when he was president between 2008 and 2016. Tsai, of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, is continuing it.

European lawmakers to visit Taiwan to meet with Taipei officials

Compared with the earlier approaches, Wang said, the latest was both more practical and had been able to gain support from UN member states.

Under the UN charter, it is almost impossible for Taiwan to apply to return as the ROC or join the UN as a new member, given that such an admission requires the majority support of assembly members and approval from the UN Security Council. China, which is one of the five permanent members of the council and wields strong influence within the UN, has the right to veto Taiwan’s application. It has more than 170 official diplomatic allies in the 193-seat global body; Taiwan has none. Even if the US, Japan and the EU raise a proposal at the UN to discuss Taiwan’s participation, Beijing can easily rally enough support from the global body to reject the proposal.

Wang and Li agreed that for Taiwan to have “meaningful participation” in the UN system, it must win the mainland’s support.

“Taiwan needs to improve its relations with Beijing,” Wang said of the seriously strained ties between Taiwan and the mainland since Tsai was elected president in 2016 and refused to accept the one-China principle.

Li noted that during Ma Ying-jeou’s presidency, Taiwan was able to join the World Health Organization as an observer. Li credited that to Ma’s policy of engaging Beijing and supporting the “1992 consensus” – which defines both Taiwan and the mainland as parts of China, but leaves open to interpretation which side is the legitimate government.

Taiwan lost its observer status when China objected, after Tsai became president in 2016.

“With Beijing remaining highly influential in the UN and its ability to rally support from its allies to block Taiwan’s bid, Taiwan is less likely to stand any chances unless the Tsai government is able to improve ties with Beijing,” Li said.