Japan Reiterates It Cannot Support Taiwan’s UN Bid

Text of report in English by Japanese news agency Kyodo

Tokyo, July 24 Kyodo – Japan does not support an application by Taiwan to become a member of the United Nations due to its one- China policy, a Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tuesday after the United Nations rejected the bid from Taiwan overnight.

“It is our basic policy in line with the Japan-China joint declaration not to treat Taiwan as a nation or a government…and from this standpoint we cannot support Taiwan’s membership,” Press Secretary Mitsuo Sakaba said at a news conference.

Sakaba was referring to the 1972 declaration that states Japan’s “one-China” policy recognizing Beijing as the sole government. Japan switched diplomatic ties from Taipei to Beijing in 1972.

The United Nations too cited the “one-China” policy as its grounds for refusing Taiwan’s application, a UN spokeswoman said Monday.

Taiwan has irked China by formally applying to become a member of the United Nations under the name “Taiwan” instead of its official name “Republic of China,” under which the Taipei government held China’s UN seat until 1971 when the communist government in Beijing took it over.

China regards Taiwan as a renegade province that should be reunited with the mainland, by military force if necessary.

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