UN General Assembly
2001

representation and collaboration, not only in the United Nations and its specialized agencies, such as the World Health Organization, but in nearly every other intergovernmental body. The voice with which they could share their plight and thereby benefit from world cooperation is silenced. However, the irony is that for more than 50 years, no authority other than the Republic of China on Taiwan itself has had full sovereign control over Taiwan, its population and the running of its affairs. To visit the country, for example, one must have immigration papers issued by its own authorities. While we welcome the wise decision of the World Trade Organization last week to admit the Republic of China on Taiwan, it is Tuvalu’s strong view that the United Nations must take the lead and seriously reconsider United Nations membership for the Republic of China on Taiwan, beyond the politics of exclusion and on the basis of the reality of things. In Tuvalu and many other countries in the Pacific, we know that our economic vulnerability is fertile