Taiwan, US meet to discuss UN participation

After numerous Chinese attempts to pressure Taiwan into accepting it's sovereignty, Taiwan and the United States if America have met to decide whether it can participated in the United Nations. Taiwan was ousted in 1971 after a civil war with China that saw the government fleeing to the island.

U.S. State Department said U.S. and Taiwanese officials had met virtually on Friday for a "discussion focused on supporting Taiwan's ability to participate meaningfully at the UN". This included Taiwan's access to the World Health Organisation, which it claims has been insufficient in the time of a global pandemic although China (and WHO) claims it has been provided with more than enough.

The meeting comes ahead of the fifty-year anniversary of China's joining the United Nations, which will be marked by a speech by Xi Jinping. China says that Taiwan is one of its provinces, and so it has the sole right to represent Taiwan internationally. The democratically-elected government in Taipei says only it has that right.

State Department Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Organizations Hugo Yon, Deputy Assistant Secretary for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia Rick Waters, and Taiwan's deputy de facto ambassador in Washington, Wang Liang-yu, participated in the meeting the US State Department said in a statement.