Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Exclusion of anyone harms efforts to achieve global development goals, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said on Friday when asked about Taiwan’s bid for UN participation.

World leaders are to meet next week at the annual high-level UN General Assembly, but Taiwan is excluded under a 1971 UN resolution that recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the legitimate representative of China to the UN.

Leaders are also to attend a summit on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals — a global “to-do” list created in 2015 that includes issues such as tackling the climate crisis, achieving gender equality and ending hunger and poverty.

Australia and Taiwan both have ongoing challenges relating to historical reconciliation and justice. Moreover, any of the issues confronting indigenous communities such as lack of policy inputs, discrimination and self-determination are similar. More importantly and practically, a “Taiwanese indigenous voice” would provide a symbolic and practical mechanism where indigenous peoples can have a say over important policy and legal decisions that affect them without needing to resolve or preclude the recognition of indigenous sovereignty which continues to be debated.