China is misusing and mischaracterizing UN Resolution 2758 to exclude Taiwan from international organizations, the US Department of State said on Friday.
“Intentional misuse and mischaracterization of UNGA [UN General Assembly] Resolution 2758 is part of China’s broader coercive efforts to isolate Taiwan from the international community,” a State Department spokesperson said.
The resolution “puts no limits on any country’s sovereign choice to engage substantively with Taiwan,” and it “does not preclude Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the United Nations system and other multilateral fora,” they said.
Photo: AFP
The spokesperson was responding to Central News Agency’s request for comments on Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) use of the UN resolution to assert Beijing’s territorial claims over Taiwan during a news conference earlier that day.
The resolution has “addressed the issue of representation for all of China, including Taiwan, in the United Nations,” Wang said at a news conference for the third session of the 14th National People’s Congress, the most important annual gathering for China’s legislature and top government advisory body.
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs lodged a protest, calling Wang’s claims “absurd” and “false,” while describing them as an attempt to “deceive and mislead the international community.”
The ministry said the resolution does not mention Taiwan nor authorize the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to represent Taiwan and its people in the UN and affiliated agencies.
It also urged the international community to “reject China’s repeated misinterpretation of the resolution.”
The resolution, adopted by the UNGA in 1971, recognized the People’s Republic of China as “the only lawful representatives of China” to the international body, and expelled “the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek [蔣介石] from the place which they unlawfully occupy at the United Nations and in all the organizations related to it.” It does not mention Taiwan.
In the past few years, academics and the State Department have repeatedly said that China is distorting the resolution by falsely linking it with its “one China” principle.
For two consecutive years, the US Senate has passed bipartisan resolutions emphasizing that the adoption of UN Resolution 2758 does not represent acceptance of Beijing’s claim to Taiwan, and that the US’ “one China” policy is not the same as Beijing’s “one China” principle.
The US’ policy recognizes the PRC as the sole legal government of China, but only acknowledges Beijing’s position that Taiwan is a part of China.
Last year, the Dutch House of Representatives and the Australian Senate passed resolutions stating that UN Resolution 2758 does not involve Taiwan, Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Chen Gau-tzu (陳昭姿) said yesterday.
The TPP caucus has proposed the legislature pass a resolution reiterating that the UN resolution does not involve Taiwan and expressing Taiwan’s gratitude to counties that have shown support of that position, she said.
The TPP caucus also hopes to invite Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) to report on Taiwan’s participation in international organizations to the legislature, she said.
Unfortunately the caucuses could not reach a consensus in a cross-party negotiation called on Oct. 8 last year to discuss passing such a resolution, she said.
Since US President Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January, the international situation has been changing, so Taiwan should again reiterate that its stance on UN Resolution 2758 has not changed, to consolidate more international support, Chen said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus deputy secretary-general Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said the Republic of China and the KMT have always opposed UN Resolution 2758.
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to lead a delegation to China next month, saying she hopes to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations and bring stability to the Taiwan Strait. “I am grateful and happy to accept this invitation,” Cheng said in a statement from the KMT chairperson’s office. Cheng said she hopes both sides can work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, enhance exchange and cooperation, bring stability to the Taiwan Strait and improve people’s livelihoods. At today's news conference, Cheng said any efforts to
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and