EDITORIAL: Is the UN worth trying to join?

Taiwanese-Americans, lawmakers and civic groups marched through Manhattan on Saturday last week in support of Taiwan’s participation in the UN. Marshall Islands Permanent Representative to the UN John Silk joined the demonstration, saying he hoped Taiwan would one day be able to participate in UN meetings as a member, and Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Yi-chuan (王義川) took part while visiting New York City with a delegation.

Taiwanese communities in Vancouver held a “UN for Taiwan” event. The campaign comes as the 81st UN General Assembly gets under way. In Taipei, President William Lai (賴清德) said China was deliberately misinterpreting UN Resolution 2758 to claim sovereignty over Taiwan, adding that the resolution dealt with China’s representation at the UN and did not determine Taiwan’s status.

The campaign raises a broader question: What practical benefits would Taiwan gain from participating in the UN and its affiliated organizations? Taiwan already participates in organizations including the WTO, Asian Development Bank and APEC, but remains excluded from the WHO and others.

At the same time, the campaign raises a larger question about the role of the UN itself. The organization was created to maintain international peace and security. Eight decades later, it remains important to peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance, development and diplomacy, but its effectiveness is frequently hobbled by disagreements among member states, particularly in the UN Security Council.

Does the UN still function as its founders envisioned? How much would a seat or participation change Taiwan’s international position?

The question is important given the limits the organization has faced in dealing with major crises. Taiwan has said that its exclusion from the UN system created problems during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying its early warnings about the outbreak were not incorporated into the international response.

The UN’s record on war and security raises questions about what membership could realistically accomplish. Russia, China and the US are among the five permanent members of the Security Council and possess veto power, yet the council has been unable to prevent or decisively end major conflicts, including the wars in Ukraine and the genocide in Gaza.

For Taiwan, those limitations are particularly significant. China remains its principal military threat, while Beijing’s activities in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea have contributed to tensions with Japan, the Philippines and other countries in the Indo-Pacific region. Would Taiwan’s admission to the UN improve its ability to deter China, or would Beijing’s permanent seat and veto power simply give it another means of opposing Taiwan’s participation?

Yet, Taiwan has little incentive to abandon the campaign. Giving up its pursuit of international participation could be portrayed as accepting China’s claim that Taiwan is merely part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) rather than a self-governing political entity entitled to represent its own people.

Does Taiwan actually need UN membership to achieve the goals it associates with international recognition? If those goals include protecting its security, expanding diplomatic relations, participating in international organizations, gaining access to global decisionmaking and establishing wider recognition of its separate political status, could some of those objectives be achieved without becoming a UN member?

Taiwan already participates in some international institutions under various names and arrangements and has extensive unofficial relations with countries that do not recognize it. It could seek greater participation in specialized international organizations, negotiate bilateral and multilateral agreements, and expand unofficial ties with other countries, increasing its international space without resolving the dispute over its status.

What exactly does Taiwan want other countries to recognize? Taiwan operates as a self-governing democracy with its own elected government, military, currency, laws and territory, while the PRC has never governed Taiwan. Its international status remains complicated by the competing positions of Beijing, Taipei and other governments.

Before asking the international community to recognize Taiwan as a nation, Taiwan might have to grapple with what it means by sovereignty itself. Is the goal to maintain the Republic of China framework while seeking greater international recognition, establish recognition of Taiwan as a separate state, or preserve the “status quo” while expanding its participation in international institutions?

Taiwan’s UN campaign is consequently about more than obtaining a seat in New York. It reflects a larger struggle over Taiwan’s international identity, its ability to maintain political space in the face of pressure from Beijing, and whether its goals can be achieved without first resolving the fundamental dispute over its sovereignty.