Iceland opposes Taiwan UN membership

The government of Iceland said last week that it was against Taiwan’s plan to hold a referendum on UN membership, reports China View News.

“We believe that a planned referendum on joining the United Nations in the name of Taiwan would be a mistake and therefore cannot support it,” Iceland’s Foreign Minister Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir told China View in an interview.

“Such a referendum would risk increased tension and instability in the region,” she said.

China Review also stated that Gisladottir maintained that Iceland would continue to uphold the One-China policy. She also expressed her satisfaction with the development of Icelandic – Chinese relations, saying there were broad prospects for further cooperation between the two nations.

China views the island of Taiwan, which is located off its southeastern coast, as still part of the Communist People’s Republic of China. Tensions between the two countries have been high since Taiwan effectively split from the communist mainland in 1949. Iceland established diplomatic relations with China in 1971.