Taiwan yesterday criticized Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) for “intentionally misinterpreting” a 1971 UN resolution to misrepresent Taiwan’s status to the global community.
In his address on Saturday to the UN General Assembly, Wang cited Resolution 2758 as a basis for Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is part of China.
He said that Beijing considers Taiwan an “inseparable part of China’s territory since ancient times.”
Photo: Reuters
“Only when China is completely reunified can there be enduring peace across the Taiwan Strait... Any move to obstruct China’s reunification is bound to be crushed by the wheels of history,” Wang said.
General Assembly Resolution 2758 ended the concept of “two Chinas” or “one China and one Taiwan,” he said.
“The ‘one China’ principle has become the basic norm in international relations and a consensus in the international community,” he said. “When entering into diplomatic relations with China, 181 countries all recognized and have accepted that there is one China in the world and Taiwan is part of China.”
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the resolution transferred China’s seat in the UN from representatives of former president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) government to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) without mention of Taiwan.
The resolution did not grant Beijing the right to represent the people or territory of Taiwan in the UN, nor did it say that Taiwan is part of the PRC, it added.
Beijing has been purposely and continually making a “twisted and incorrect political interpretation” of historical documents, it said.
Linking the resolution with Beijing’s “one China” principle isabsurd, it said, adding that the so-called principle does not represent international consensus.
China is resorting to every conceivable means to cut off Taiwan’s international participation and obstruct Taiwan’s opportunities to contribute to the international community, it said.
The Mainland Affairs Council also voiced protest against Wang’s statement, saying that Taiwan “has never belonged to the PRC for one day from the viewpoints of historical fact, international law and reality.”
“Taiwan’s future will be decided by the 23 million Taiwanese people,” it said, adding that the nation would never accept “any political premise or the final status of people across the Taiwan Strait unilaterally decided by Beijing.”
Adopted by the UN General Assembly on Oct. 25, 1971, Resolution 2758 recognized the representatives of the PRC government “as the only legitimate representatives of China to the United Nations.”
The wording reads: “[The UN decides] to expel forthwith the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek from the place which they unlawfully occupy at the UN and in all the organizations related to it.”
Since then, the Republic of China has not been a member of the UN, and efforts to participate in UN-affiliated organizations have been repeatedly thwarted by Beijing.
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