Taiwan foreign minister attends event on sidelines of UN assembly

WASHINGTON - Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung was in New York this week and met diplomatic allies on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), according to a Facebook post and a source with knowledge of the matter.

Mr Lin’s visit came after he published an op-ed article on the website of conservative US outlet Newsmax calling on the world body to recognise Taiwan, part of a longstanding campaign by Taipei.

It was the first time a Taiwanese foreign minister was known to have been in New York during the so-called UNGA Week, for which world leaders gather in the city each year. Taiwan, formally known as the Republic of China, is barred from attending official UNGA events, as Beijing has held China’s UN seat since 1971.

Mr Lin attended a reception in New York on Sept 22 hosted by American Global Strategies (AGS), a consultancy set up by former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien and former US National Security Council chief of staff Alexander Gray, said a source familiar with the event.

Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment.

The office of the presidency of the Pacific Island state of Palau, one of the few remaining countries that recognises Taiwan diplomatically, published photographs on its Facebook page of Mr Lin, showing him at the AGS reception with Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr and Mr Gray.

Mr Gray served with Mr O’Brien in the White House in the first administration of US President Donald Trump. In the background of the photo showing Mr Lin with Mr Whipps and Mr Gray is a US State Department official, whom the source identified as Mr Charles Harder, a special envoy for children’s well-being.

The reception was held at Le Bernadin, a high-end French restaurant in Manhattan, which has three Michelin stars, the source said.

Taiwan is excluded from most international organisations and many gatherings due to objections by China, which claims the democratically governed island as its own.

The US, like most countries, does not officially recognise Taiwan but maintains close unofficial ties with Taipei, and is required by law to provide the island with the means to defend itself amid increasing pressure from China’s communist government.

The State Department did not offer a comment when asked about Mr Lin’s New York visit.

Beijing, with which Mr Trump is currently attempting to negotiate a major trade deal, regularly denounces any international recognition of Taiwan or contact between Taiwanese and foreign officials, viewing it as encouraging Taiwan’s separate status from China.

Taiwan says it has a right to engage internationally and that China has no right to claim to speak for or represent it.

On Sept 22, the foreign ministers of South Korea, Japan and the US met on the sidelines of UNGA and expressed concern in a joint statement about increasingly frequent destabilising activities around Taiwan. REUTERS