BEIJING - Taiwan has "no right to join the United Nations", a Beijing official said Wednesday, after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged greater inclusion of the self-governing island in UN institutions.

The response came after Blinken -- in a statement marking 50 years since the UN General Assembly voted to seat Beijing and boot out Taipei -- regretted that Taiwan had increasingly been excluded on the world stage.

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"The United Nations is an international governmental organization composed of sovereign states," said Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing at a regular briefing, adding: "Taiwan is a part of China."

Beijing considers Taiwan -- where the mainland's defeated nationalists fled at the end of China's civil war in 1949 -- to be a province awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.

Ma said the People's Republic of China is the "only legal government representing the whole of China", urging politicians in Taipei to abandon the idea of relying on Washington for independence.

On Tuesday, Blinken said "Taiwan's meaningful participation in the UN system is not a political issue, but a pragmatic one".

He added that, as the international community faces an unprecedented number of complex and global issues, it is critical for all stakeholders to help address problems -- including the 24 million people living in Taiwan.

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© Agence France-Presse

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