China has falsely linked UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 with its “one China principle” and used the resolution to legitimize its acts to limit Taiwan’s participation in world bodies and possibly invade Taiwan by force, President William Lai (賴清德) said at the annual meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) in Taipei yesterday.
UN Resolution 2758 was passed by the UN General Assembly on Oct. 25, 1971, stating that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is the legitimate government of China, which led to the PRC replacing the Republic of China (ROC), Taiwan’s official name, in the UN.
Beijing’s “one China principle” asserts that there is only one China, which is the PRC and not the ROC, and that it has jurisdiction over Taiwan.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Lai also thanked the US government and the European Parliament for repudiating China’s attempts to link the resolution and its “one China principle.”
Meanwhile, Taiwan was formally welcomed yesterday as an official IPAC member at the group’s annual meeting.
“Taiwan will do its best to put out a democratic protection umbrella with our democratic partners to keep them away from the threat of authoritarianism,” Lai said.
Photo courtesy of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China
The president said Taiwan hopes to realize this goal by adhering to the “four pillars.”
Lai in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal in July last year defined the pillars as building up the nation’s defense capabilities, promoting economic security and fostering supply chain resilience, forming partnerships with other democracies, and maintaining steady and principled cross-strait leadership.
Taiwan is resolute in its determination to maintain regional peace and stability, and deeply believes that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait are linked with the development of global democracy, he said.
Lai cited recent Chinese aggression in the East and South China seas, and its joint military exercises with Russia as evidence of threats posed by autocratic expansion, while also citing this year’s NATO summit declaration that “China has become a decisive enabler of Russia’s war against Ukraine.”
During the meeting, all IPAC members agreed that China has distorted UN Resolution 2758 in their home nations and also agreed to enact efforts to support Taiwan’s participation in UN bodies.
The IPAC session stated that the 1971 resolution only confirmed that the PRC was China’s legal representative to the UN. It did not mention Taiwan or its political status, support China’s claims toward Taiwan or explicitly comment on Taiwan’s capability to join the UN and related bodies.
It is regrettable that China has distorted the meaning of Resolution 2758 to imply that it supports China’s “one China principle,” and equally regrettable to see China altering historical documents, changing references to “Taiwan” to “Taiwan, China.”
Separately, at a Ministry of Foreign Affairs banquet on Monday, IPAC chair Olivier Cadic said China’s recent guidelines targeting Taiwan might be in violation of UN human rights principles.
Cadic also called on China to stop its irresponsible and aggressive military actions, and to respect the rights of free passage to all ships sailing through the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) thanked IPAC for raising international awareness about Chinese efforts to undermine the international order, as well as those of members of the G7 and the G20.
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