The Chinese mainland slammed Taiwan authorities on Friday for applying to join the United Nations under its own name.

Taiwan has failed in a succession of attempts to rejoin UN organisations under its official name, the "Republic of China".

"We resolutely oppose it and will keep a close eye on the development of the issue," the official Xinhua news agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao as saying. "The Taiwan authorities' attempt to split China will absolutely not succeed."

Xinhua said that Taiwanese authorities had sent a letter on Thursday to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, formally applying to join the UN in Taiwan's name.