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OPENING CEREMONY: (From left) Taiwan's President Chen with Marshall Islands President Kessai Note and his wife Mary at a ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday to open a Taiwan-founded conference centre in Majuro. -- PHOTO: AP
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MAJURO (MARSHALL ISLANDS) - TAIWAN'S Pacific allies yesterday called for the island to be admitted to the United Nations and pledged their allegiance at the opening of a summit here.
The summit is the second annual meeting of Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian and the leaders of six Pacific island nations, which make up a quarter of Taipei's diplomatic allies worldwide.
The two-day meeting in Majuro at a new Taiwan-funded conference centre is part of moves by Taipei to prevent any defection of diplomatic support to Beijing.
The leaders of the Marshall Islands, Palau, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Nauru and the Solomon Islands said the global community was unjust to prevent Taiwan from having an international voice.
Last month, the UN General Assembly rejected Taiwan's latest attempt to return to the world body after its expulsion in 1971.
Taiwan began holding summits with its Pacific allies last year, soon after China held its first ever summit with its Pacific allies in Fiji.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
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