Civic groups and academics yesterday criticized President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration for disregarding the bid for UN membership under the name Taiwan and warned that Ma’s inaction on the diplomatic front would jeopardize Taiwan’s sovereignty.

“While Taiwan is a de facto independent country, we need to work hard to make it a de jure independent country and applying for membership of the UN under the name of Taiwan is the only way to do this,” the nation’s former representative to Japan, Koh Se-kai (許世楷), told a symposium.