[JURIST] The UN on Wednesday again rejected Taiwan's 15th bid for UN membership [JURIST report], as a UN committee balked at placing the issue on the General Assembly's agenda. Taiwan, which officially refers to itself as the Republic of China (ROC), was kicked out of the UN in 1971 by General Assembly Resolution 2758 [PDF text] and replaced by the PRC as the representative of China. Taiwan's applications for UN membership have been rejected each of the last 14 years.

On Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon agreed to allow the committee to consider Taiwan's application [AP report], but also said [transcript] that the UN Secretariat had determined that "it was not legally possible to receive the purported application for membership" because of the 1971 resolution. Taiwan is currently proceeding with a national referendum [JURIST report] on the subject of its membership in the United Nations despite opposition from China. China has threatened to invade Taiwan if it ever formally declared independence. AP has more.