The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Department of China Affairs today condemned China’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Hua Chunying’s (華春瑩) latest comments on UN Resolution 2758, adding that the people of Taiwan would not accept China’s “blatant and egregious” bullying.
German Minister for Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul, meanwhile, yesterday discussed Taiwan with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (王毅), invoking the UN Charter, which prohibits the use of force to resolve international disputes, to refute China’s misuse and misinterpretation of Resolution 2758, Representative to Germany Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉) said in a social media post.
Hua addressed the Third Forum on Developing Countries and International Law in Beijing on Thursday last week.
Photo: Reuters
Any individual or any country that attempts to distort or hollow out UN Resolution 2758 is “violating China’s territorial integrity and sovereignty” in a “flagrant provocation of post-war international order,” Hua said.
Resolution 2758, passed in 1971, states that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is the only legitimate government of China, a move which enabled it to replace the Republic of China (ROC), Taiwan’s official name, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council.
China continues to misinterpret, misuse and distort Resolution 2758 to serve its political agenda, the DPP Department of China Affairs said today.
Resolution 2758 covers the PRC’s right to represent China in the UN, and was used to replace the ROC under former ROC president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), which then claimed to represent China, on the Security Council, it said.
It does not, however, make any claims concerning Taiwan’s sovereignty or state that Taiwan, or any other individuals, cannot be represented in the UN, it added.
Moreover, the resolution does not restrict any country's sovereign right to engage in relations with Taiwan, nor does it exclude Taiwan from participating in the UN or other international bodies, the department said.
China is attempting to manipulate the international community and spread the false narrative that “Taiwan is part of China,” by using phrases such as “violating China’s sovereignty” and “defending international law,” it said.
The PRC wishes to limit Taiwan’s space in the international community, block its participation in international bodies and eliminate its sovereign status, it added.
Taiwan has the right to self-identification and a sense of international responsibility, the DPP said, adding that Taiwan would continue to uphold the values of democracy, freedom and human rights, while contributing to global freedom, rule of law and sustainable development.
It would continue to participate in global forums and initiatives to fulfil its responsibilities and commitments to the international community, it said.
In other news, Shieh said in a post on Facebook that Wadephul, Germany’s Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, yesterday met with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang.
At the eighth round of China-Germany Strategic Dialogue on Diplomacy and Security in Berlin, Wadephul said, “The UN Charter prohibits the use of force to resolve disputes, which also applies to the Taiwan Strait,” Shieh said in the post.
Shieh said that after many years working as a representative in Germany, he was relieved and grateful to finally hear those words.
Germany publicly refuted China’s misinterpretation and misuse of Resolution 2758 by invoking the UN Charter, he added.
Although Germany maintains a “one China” policy, Shieh quoted Wadepuhl as saying that “if tensions in Taiwan or the South China Sea were to escalate out of control, it would affect the interests of the entire world, including Europe and Germany.”
“Any changes to the status quo in the Taiwan Strait may only occur peacefully and with mutual agreement from both sides,” he added.
A small number of Taiwanese this year lost their citizenship rights after traveling in China and obtaining a one-time Chinese passport to cross the border into Russia, a source said today. The people signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of neighboring Russia with companies claiming they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, the source said on condition of anonymity. The travelers were actually issued one-time-use Chinese passports, they said. Taiwanese are prohibited from holding a Chinese passport or household registration. If found to have a Chinese ID, they may lose their resident status under Article 9-1
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
PROBLEMATIC APP: Citing more than 1,000 fraud cases, the government is taking the app down for a year, but opposition voices are calling it censorship Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday decried a government plan to suspend access to Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu (小紅書) for one year as censorship, while the Presidential Office backed the plan. The Ministry of the Interior on Thursday cited security risks and accusations that the Instagram-like app, known as Rednote in English, had figured in more than 1,700 fraud cases since last year. The company, which has about 3 million users in Taiwan, has not yet responded to requests for comment. “Many people online are already asking ‘How to climb over the firewall to access Xiaohongshu,’” Cheng posted on
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
RSS