UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The UN General Assembly blocked Taiwan`s hopes of joining the United Nations for a 12th straight year after a day-long debate that has become an annual feature of UN business.
Without taking a vote, the assembly agreed by consensus not to put the Taiwan question on its agenda for this year`s session, which began on Tuesday.
China, which holds a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and views Taiwan as a renegade province, has repeatedly quashed Taiwan`s hopes of having a seat at the world body.
Beijing even won backing from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan earlier Wednesday to ban reporters from listening to a live satellite address by Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian inside UN headquarters.
Instead, the videoconference was held at a hotel across the street, and Chen used the occasion to make the case that his country was deserving of the international recognition of the United Nations.
"A free and democratic country like Taiwan should not be the missing piece in the United Nations principle of universality," he said.
"Taiwan`s absence in the United Nations has left its 23 million people without an internationally acknowledged identity, and has turned them into international vagabonds, victims of political apartheid," Chen said.
The General Assembly adopted a resolution in 1971 calling the People`s Republic the "only legitimate representatives" of China at the United Nations. The nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek had previously held the seat.
Beijing has repeatedly turned to that resolution to support excluding Taiwan from the world body in line with its "One China" policy, even though Chen said that giving Taiwan a seat did not mean a risk of secession.
He cited the examples of the former East and West Germany, and current North and South Korea -- all of which had UN representation.
"The persistent obstruction of Taiwan`s participation in the international community only serves to further alienate Taiwan from China, and causes rancour on both sides," he said in his satellite address.
"It is my sincere hope that the other members of the UN will acknowledge the legitimacy and strong aspirations of Taiwan`s 23 million people in seeking to join the UN," he said.
Chief UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said Annan had taken the decision to block the videoconference after consulting with the world body`s lawyers.
"This building belongs to governments and it`s an organisation of governments, with certain constraints," Eckhard said. "Taiwan is not a recognised nation here in the United Nations."
He referred to Chen as "someone calling himself the president of Taiwan."