Taipei, Aug. 16 (CNA) Taiwan's exclusion from the United Nations over the past 36 years has been likened to a form of political apartheid and should be brought to an end, Government Information Office (GIO) Minister Shieh Jhy-wey said Thursday in a press conference to announce Taiwan's U.N. bid advertisement for this year.
Shieh unveiled a poster featuring the image of a hunch-backed figure in a fish bowl, symbolic of Taiwan's limited international space, as well as the slogans "A vital life should not be limited, a democratic nation not isolated" and "End political apartheid."
"To some extent, the U.N.'s exclusion of Taiwan is similar to South Africa's ethnic separation from 1948 - 1994. It has been a form of political apartheid, " said Shieh.
The 36 years of exclusion from the U.N. have been unfair to Taiwan, which had also suffered under 50 years of Japanese colonial rule and 38 years of martial law under the Kuomintang (KMT), Shieh said.
The GIO will start placing the advertisement in major U.S. newspapers and magazines, such as the New York Times and Time Magazine, as well as newsstands and bus stops in New York City from late August to promote Taiwan's brand new U.N. bid this year, which for the first time will see the country apply for a full U.N. membership under the name Taiwan.
Promotional films in various languages will also be aired in a number of countries before the annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly being held in New York City in September, Shieh said.
The promotion project is being conducted with a budget of a little more than NT$10 million, he said.
"U.N.'s exclusion of Taiwan is not in line with the global trend towards democracy. U.N. Resolution 2758 was passed in 1971 against the background of a Chinese civil war between two dictators -- Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek -- but it has continued to limit the international space of a democratic Taiwan for almost three decades since, " Shieh said.
"We know this [Taiwan's U.N. bid] is going to be difficult, but we have to do it, " he said, also jokingly adding that the GIO renounced the copyrights of the advertisements and everyone is welcome to reproduce and distribute them.