China said it opposes Taiwan's 14th bid to join the United Nations, saying in a statement released late Friday that the effort is doomed to fail. 'The nature of the two proposals is to carry on 'Taiwan Independence' in the international community. China strongly opposes it,' spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in a statement on the foreign ministry's website.
Jiang was referring to proposals -- submitted by Burkina Faso, Gambia and a few other countries which recognize Taiwan -- for the island to join the UN and for peace across the Taiwan Straits.

'Taiwan, as a part of China, is not qualified to join the United Nations, which is composed of sovereign countries, in any name or manner,' Jiang said.
'It has been proven by reality that any attempts, which violate ... UN Resolution 2758 ... will not be supported by the majority of the UN members and will definitely fail.

The resolution, adopted in 1971, replaced Taiwan with China and granted the latter full legal status in the United Nations.Taiwan said Friday it has launched the bid to join the UN.

'We urge the international community to recognize the legitimacy of the 23 million Taiwanese people in participating in the UN ... Shutting Taiwan out is violating basic human rights and dignity of our people,' said Taiwanese foreign ministry spokesman Michel Lu.

Lu urged China not to block Taiwan's latest bid, so as to avoid 'stirring up negative sentiments of Taiwanese people and causing irreparable damage to cross-strait ties.' The island's previous annual efforts since 1993 to gain a UN seat have failed under objections from Beijing.

The UN General Assembly is expected to debate whether to table Taiwan's membership bid after it convenes on Sept 12.