Taiwan will again press for United Nations membership under its own title, despite repeated refusals by the global body which has just rejected such a bid for the 15th time, Foreign Minister James Huang said Monday, according to dpa. "We will once again apply to join the United Nation during the General Assembly meeting in September," said Huang, adding Taiwan would ask its allies to make sure the bid be discussed in the General Assembly meeting. He was referring to the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki- Moon's rejection a week ago of an application filed by Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian. Citing a 1971 resolution that the UN abide by the "one China" policy after the global body awarded the Chinese seat to Beijing from Taipei, Ban returned the application to Taiwan. Chen vowed to repeat his bid, despite opposition from the United States and protest by China. Huang said after Ban's rejection, Chen sent a letter to the UN secretary-general and China's UN representative Wang Guangya, who is currently Security Council chairman, to dispute Ban's decision. Taiwan and China split at the end of a civil war in 1949, but Beijing still considers the island an integral part of the mainland with no sovereign rights internationally. Beijing has warned other countries against forging ties with Taiwan and opposes its bid to seek to return to the United Nations since early 1990s. Beijing is particularly infuriated by Chen's bid to seek to rejoin the global body in the name of "Taiwan" and even push for the holding of a national referendum on the issue. It has regarded Chen's move as the Taiwanese president's attempt to highlight the island's identity and pave the way for it to declare an official split from China. Washington, an informal ally of Taiwan, has also expressed concern about the referendum plan and UN bid by Chen, fearing escalation of cross-strait tension.
