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Lin Chia-lung is the minister of foreign affairs for the Republic of China (Taiwan).
The United States and the Republic of China (Taiwan), including the state of Maine, share a robust bilateral relationship marked by a mutually beneficial partnership, supported by our common values of freedom, democracy, rule of law and a free market economy.
Taiwan-U.S. and Taiwan-Maine relations are, in fact, the strongest ever. The U.S. ranks as Taiwan’s second-largest trading partner, and Taiwan is the eighth-largest trading partner of the U.S., with U.S. trade in goods with Taiwan totaling an estimated $127.4 billion in 2023, and Taiwan was the seventh-largest consumer of agricultural goods in 2023 totaling $3.7 billion.
Taiwan-Maine bilateral trade reached $50.3 million 2023. Maine exported to Taiwan $31.1 million in integrated circuits, wafers, printed circuit boards, crustaceans, paper products, etc., making Taiwan Maine’s 17th largest export market in the world and eighth largest export market in Asia. A formal bilateral trade agreement between Taiwan and the U.S. would result in even more Maine exports to Taiwan and create more jobs for the people of Maine.
Taiwan is an indispensable partner in global supply chains, producing more than 90 percent of the world’s high-end semiconductors and a significant portion of the advanced chips that are driving the artificial intelligence revolution. Moreover, half of the world’s seaborne trade passes through the Taiwan Strait, making it a key international waterway.
China, however, continues to intensify its aggressive actions against Taiwan. Beijing’s attempts to change the status quo across the Taiwan Strait and expand authoritarianism throughout the Indo-Pacific region are a profound threat to peace and security all around the world.
In recent years, global leaders have used bilateral and multilateral occasions — including G-7, European Union, NATO and Association of Southeast Asian Nations meetings — to highlight the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. Despite being aware of the importance of reducing tensions in the region, the United Nations, however, has yet to take action to address the challenges posed by China or to incorporate Taiwan in the U.N. system.
The first and most urgent task that the U.N. must address is to stop succumbing to China’s pressure and refrain from distorting any further U.N. General Assembly Resolution 2758, which was adopted in 1971. In fact, Beijing’s tactic of weaponizing Resolution 2758 to spread the fallacy that Taiwan is part of China is one of the key elements in a wider campaign to establish the legal basis for justifying a future armed invasion of Taiwan.
In recent months, several senior U.S. officials have criticized China’s distortion of Resolution 2758 to justify its spurious claim over Taiwan. Furthermore, on July 30, the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an international organization comprising more than 250 members of parliament from 38 countries and the EU, demonstrated concrete support for Taiwan by passing a model resolution on Resolution 2758.
To maintain international peace and security as outlined in the U.N. Charter, the U.N. must return to and encourage a correct interpretation of Resolution 2758 and explore means of resisting China’s aggressive ambitions.
China’s expansionism will not stop at Taiwan. Recent regulations introduced by China’s coast guard are part of a broader gray-zone tactic designed to reinforce the People’s Republic of China’s specious territorial claims and expand its influence.
As the world’s foremost forum for international cooperation, the U.N. system is ideally positioned to address regional security challenges and support global economic stability. The 79th U.N. General Assembly and its Summit of the Future present a timely opportunity to address key security concerns while advancing the broader goals of global sustainable development and building a more resilient global community for current and future generations.
For a more secure and better world, the U.N. system needs to include Taiwan, something that, in the end, will benefit the people of Taiwan and Maine as we strengthen our bilateral relations and friendship even further.
