New Southbound Policy Portal

 

The 41st Assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) commenced in Montreal, Canada, on September 27. On the Assembly’s opening day, Chinese delegate Cui Xiaofeng, Deputy Administrator of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, repeated the so-called “one China principle,” falsely claimed that China’s “peaceful unification” mission has the widespread support of ICAO’s contracting states, and challenged Taiwan’s right to participate. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of the Republic of China (Taiwan) refutes and condemns Mr. Cui’s false narrative.

MOFA reiterates that the Republic of China (Taiwan) is a sovereign and independent democratic state and that neither the Republic of China (Taiwan) nor the autocratic People’s Republic of China (PRC) is subordinate to the other. These are objective and indisputable facts. China’s government should not make erroneous political interpretations of the resolutions and rules of the United Nations and its specialized agencies, nor should it play up political issues that have no connection with aviation safety or impose the “Chinese dream” of annexing Taiwan on international organizations. Given its recent deliberate escalation of military threats and live-fire drills targeting Taiwan, China has become a source of flight safety risks in the region and the world, while also disrupting the peaceful status quo across the Taiwan Strait and security in the Asia-Pacific. While declaring that China was working with other countries to promote the recovery of the civil aviation sector, Mr. Cui made assertions that severely flouted the UN Charter’s basic principles of not using force and of resolving disputes peacefully and that ran contrary to ICAO’s purpose of ensuring seamless aviation safety. Such claims by the government of China should be unanimously condemned by the international community.

MOFA again stresses that the PRC has never governed Taiwan and that Taiwan has never been a part of the PRC. Only the democratically elected government of Taiwan has the right to represent the Taiwanese people in the UN system and elsewhere on the international stage. China’s government has no right to speak on behalf of the Taiwanese people, nor should it interfere in Taiwan’s participation in and contribution to the UN system. (E)