China welcomes US rejection of Taiwan's bid

BEIJING - China has welcomed the United Nations' rejection for the 14th consecutive year of Taiwan's bid to join the global body.

"We urge the Taiwan authorities and a small minority of countries used by the Taiwan authorities to follow the historical trend and stop all secessionist activities," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a statement.

Suggestions that Taiwan should be let into the UN "challenge the One China principle and do not enjoy popular support", said the statement, carried on the foreign ministry's website.

A UN committee on Tuesday rejected a proposal to put on the agenda of the 61st UN General Assembly session the "question of the representation and participation of the 23 million people of Taiwan in the United Nations."

China had argued orally and in a letter that "Taiwan has been an inseparable part of China's territory since antiquity" and was not an independent nation. Taiwan has formal ties with some 23 nations and a diplomatic presence in 120 countries.

A group of small nations from Central America, the Caribbean, Africa and the Pacific said in a lengthy document that Taiwan had been governed separately since 1949 and that its exclusion from the United Nations was discriminatory.

China views Taiwan as a breakaway province that must be brought under its rule, by force if necessary.

- REUTERS