Can the United Nations com mand the birth of a nation?

South Sudan became the 193rd UN member yesterday. The Palestinians are striving to become the 194th this fall. Meanwhile, the Republic of China, or Taiwan — a vibrant democracy and a brilliant economic success story — can’t even get near the building, let alone become a UN member.

“We were one of the founders of the United Nations,” Taipei’s information minister, Philip Yang, noted this week at a dinner for a small group of journalists. But these days, diplomats from communist China (which inherited China’s UN seat in 1971) diligently press UN bureaucrats to deny entry passes to Taiwanese reporters, let alone diplomats.

The People’s Republic considers Taiwan part of it — territory that belongs to Beijing even if outside its control.

That’s almost fine by Yang. Sure, his government would like UN recognition. But, unlike its more confrontational predecessor, it has been quietly seeking accommodation with Beijing — signing trade agreements, establishing direct flights between Taipei and every major city in mainland China and generally trying to lower tensions.

Then again, Taiwan hasn’t dropped its constitution, which defines it as the true China. And even under the liberal President Ma Ying-Jeou (who’s running for re-election), Taiwan is in creasing defense budgets.

Military capabilities and the defense agreements with Washington that Taipei works hard to maintain ensure that the island state will govern itself for years to come. (Unless it wants to send signals that could destabilize the region, the Obama administration should OK the purchase of new military hardware that Taiwan is seeking this week.)

Now look at South Sudan: It fought valiantly for decades to tear itself away from Khartoum’s oppression. Finally, under global pressure and with big help from determined American diplomacy, the North’s Islamist government agreed to separation. Yesterday, the mostly Christian and Animist South raised a new banner at the UN’s flag row on First Avenue.

All of us must pray for the new country’s success. But despite its sizable petroleum reserves, South Sudan is born into extreme poverty. Its upper-middle class can only dream of earning $2,500 a year (which is where Taiwan defines its pov erty line).

Can the new country unite and become a full-fledged democracy? Once the West loses interest and moves on, will South Sudan be able to defend itself against the North — which is likely to renew border attacks in an attempt to annex more and more oil-rich chunks of its new neighbor’s land?

In Taiwan, we have a shiny model of a successful, self-sufficient state that nevertheless gets no respect from the “international community.” Meanwhile, South Sudan, the newest UN darling, is a long way from proving its viability as a state.

So which model do the Palestinians want to emulate?

True, the West Bank is one of the least poor corners of the Arab Mideast. Gaza is poorer, but it’s still not nearly as wretched as much of Africa, including South Sudan.

Yet, despite receiving more world donations than any place on earth, both Palestinian territories have yet to achieve anything resembling the independent wealth that Taiwan enjoys.

Last week, in fact, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had to cut salaries to government employees after international donors reneged on pledges of funds.

Plus, the Palestinians are much too factionalized to cohere as a political entity; the Fatah-Hamas split is only one in a set of conflicting loyalties.

And even a Palestinian state that wanted peace with Israel would be hard-pressed to fend off military forces that don’t.

But, this week, the Arab League (whose members top the Palestinian Authority’s list of deadbeat donors) vowed to request UN recognition of a Palestinian state soon.

The General Assembly will approve, but the Security Council is likely to reject the plea. The United States, which opposes a unilateral declaration of statehood, will veto. By October, the disappointment in the West Bank and Gaza may well lead to a renewal of violence.

The United Nations actually declared Palestinians ready for statehood long ago; this spring, the World Bank agreed. But recognition from “the world” isn’t enough. Outsiders can’t “declare” a Palestinian state, let alone build one. Nor can they come to terms with Palestine’s neighbor, Israel.

Only Palestinians can do all that. They haven’t yet. Maybe it’s time to learn from Taiwan?

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