Taipei, July 27 (CNA) Civic groups in Taiwan launched a "Mail U.N. (United Nations) " campaign Friday to encourage Taiwanese people to send protest letters to the world body in protest over its rejection of Taiwan's application for U.N. membership.
"To express Taiwan's earnest will to join the global community, people can download a protest letter from our Web site, sign it, and mail it back to our office, " said Lo Chih-cheng, secretary-general of the Taiwan Society.
Taiwan applied for U.N. membership under the name of Taiwan for the first time this year. Earlier in the week, the U.N. Office of Legal Affairs rejected the application based on U.N. Resolution 2758 adopted in 1971, which replaced the Republic of China with the People's Republic of China as the sole representative of China in the United Nations.
The Taiwan Society, a pro-independence group that collaborated with Taiwan Society North, Taiwan Central Society and other groups in the campaign, hopes to collect more than 100,000 letters and send them to the U.N. Secretariat before the opening of the U.N. General Assembly in September, said Lo.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon did not abide by the U.N. Charter in rejecting Taiwan's application without referring it to the Security Council or the General Assembly, according to Wu Shuh-min, president of the Taiwan Society.
Wu said Taiwan's voice should be heard in the international community so the world will know what the country wants.
"U.N. membership under the name of Taiwan is an important issue. Should Taiwan gain a U.N. seat, it should be allowed to participate in most international organizations, such as the World Health Organization, " he noted.
"It is understandable that the U.N. is facing considerable pressure from China. Still, it is a shame that an international organization advocating the principles of universality, fairness, democracy, freedom, human rights and dignity, would take the side of an authoritarian and abusive regime, " the groups said in a written statement.
The groups plan to keep advancing the idea of a U.N. referendum and to call for the people of Taiwan to voice their protest against the U.N. decision.