Security Council recommends tiny island of Tuvalu join U.N.

February 18, 2000
Web posted at: 3:09 AM HKT (1909 GMT)

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- The U.N. Security Council recommended on Thursday that the tiny Pacific nation of Tuvalu be admitted as the 189th member state of the United Nations.

The General Assembly must now approve the Council's endorsement before Tuvalu can become a member.

China, the only council member to issue any objection to Tuvalu's candidacy, abstained from the vote. Tuvalu has diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

Tuvalu, with a population of about 10,600, consists of nine coral atolls in the South Pacific Ocean, about halfway between Hawaii and Australia. The tiny nation's 24 kilometers of coastline circle about 26 square kilometers of land -- roughly a tenth the size of Washington, D.C.

Tuvalu won independence from the United Kingdom on October 1, 1978. Its capital is Funafuti.

Last September, the General Assembly admitted three other small Pacific island nations -- Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga.

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