Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has used her transit stay in the United States to seek support for the island's bid to join international organisations, saying the democratic world should not allow the continued exclusion of Taipei from those bodies.
Tsai also said all democratic countries should unite to counter authoritarianism and the island would continue to work with the US and like-minded countries to secure its future.
Tsai made the comments after accepting a global leadership award from the Hudson Institute at an event hosted by the Washington think tank in New York on Thursday night.
Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.
"Taiwan's relations with democratic countries in recent years have continued to prosper but Taiwan is still excluded from the United Nations and related international organisations," she said.
The United Nations ousted Taipei to admit Beijing in 1971, and Taiwan has been excluded ever since because of repeated objections from mainland China, which insists the island is part of its territory with no right to join international organisations.
"Such an unfair situation should not be allowed to continue. Taiwan needs support from other democratic countries to assist it in joining international organisations," Tsai was quoted as saying by Xavier Chang, deputy secretary-general of her office.
Tsai, who is on a two-night stopover in New York en route to visit Taipei's Central American allies of Guatemala and Belize, said Taiwan had remained calm and cautious in dealing with constant military threats from Beijing and had been a responsible stakeholder in maintaining stability in the region.
She called on like-minded countries to work with Taiwan in strengthening its security and economic supply chains as well as maintaining regional peace, given that instability in the Taiwan Strait would only bring risks to the global economy and security.
Chang said more than 100 guests attended the closed-door event but did not say who went.
In a statement after the event, the institute said it was honoured to present the award to Tsai, who had expanded and deepened the US-Taiwan security and economic relationship while in office.
Tsai's US transit - which will include a two-night stopover in Los Angeles on her way back from Belize on April 4 - has been opposed strongly by Beijing, which says she has long used the pretext of transiting through America to promote the island's independence cause.