Taiwan's president asks pope to support bid to join United Nations

Published: 2008-01-10

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- President Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan has asked Pope Benedict XVI to support his country's bid to join the United Nations and to participate fully in other international forums. "Having long been persecuted by communist China, Taiwan has been excluded from taking part" in the United Nations, the World Health Organization and other agencies designed to bring countries together to address the world's problems, the president wrote. The Taiwanese Embassy to the Holy See gave Catholic News Service a copy of Chen's Jan. 2 letter to Pope Benedict. Thanking the pope for his message for the Jan. 1 celebration of World Peace Day, Chen said he fully agreed with the pope's assertion that humanity is a global family and that problems must be faced by all nations working in harmony. But because of China's insistence that individual nations and international organizations not recognize Taiwan's independence, "Taiwan has been unable to work hand in hand with the international community in seeking solutions to issues of mutual concern, especially to matters regarding the survival of mankind," Chen said. Taiwan has diplomatic relations with only two dozen countries; its Vatican embassy is its only diplomatic mission in Europe. While the Vatican continues to have full diplomatic relations with the country, it has not sent an ambassador to Taiwan in more than 30 years.

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