The 1996 general elections certified that Taipei was the only legitimate government to represent Taiwan and established that the Republic of China (ROC), Taiwan is an equal of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), as well as that neither side is subordinate to the other, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said on Monday at the ILA-ASIL Asia-Pacific Research Forum in Taipei.
The 1951 San Francisco Treaty, considered to have superseded the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation, shows that the PRC has never ruled Taiwan, Lin said.
The 1996 general elections saw the central government and legislative representatives directly elected by Taiwanese, establishing that both sides of the Taiwan Strait were equal as sovereign states and neither was subordinate to the other, he said.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The election results in 2000, 2008 and 2016 underscored the continued pursuit of Taiwanese of democracy and freedom, he said.
China has repeatedly challenged the rules-based international order, prompting a response from many navies to launch freedom of navigation transits of the Taiwan Strait to assert that it is international waters, he said.
China’s 2005 “Anti-Secession” Law and 22 articles targeting “die-hard Taiwanese separatists,” along with its malign distortion of UN Resolution No. 2758, including citing the resolution as the legal basis showing Taiwan is a part of China and weaponizing it to occlude Taiwan from international affairs, all go against democratic values, Lin said.
Australia, the Netherlands, the European Parliament, the UK and the Czech Republic, which are members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, have passed resolutions opposing China’s erroneous interpretation of the UN resolution, while top-level US officials have also expressed similar opinions, he said.
The international community is beginning to understand that UN Resolution No. 2758 neither mentions nor precludes Taiwan’s participation in international bodies, he said.
President William Lai’s (賴清德) 17-point national security strategy addresses the changes in geopolitical politics and Taiwan’s response to the growing threat from authoritarian regimes, Lin said.
The Taiwan issue is a global issue, and a safer Taiwan makes the world safer as well, he said, adding that a more resilient Taiwan makes for a stronger defensive line of democratic countries.
The ROC, Taiwan is a democratic country and a force of good, he said, adding that it is willing to work with like-minded nations to jointly defend regional peace, bolster regional security and foster regional prosperity.
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