Any attempt to change the "status quo" by force or coercion cannot bring true peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said in a letter to Pope Leo released by the Presidential Office today.
The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to maintain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and the only one in Europe, although the Vatican has worked to improve relations with Beijing, including the appointment of Catholic bishops.
Writing to Pope Leo in response to his Jan. 1 World Day of Peace message, Lai said he had repeatedly emphasized that democracy, peace and prosperity are "Taiwan's national path and also Taiwan's link with the world."
Photo: AFP
In the face of long-term military coercion and political intimidation from "authoritarian states in the region," Taiwan has always chosen to safeguard peace in the Taiwan Strait through concrete actions, Lai added, without directly naming China.
"I firmly believe that any attempt to change Taiwan's status quo through force or coercion cannot bring true peace," he said.
In his letter to the Pope, Lai also called out "efforts to distort" World War II documents and the interpretation of the 1971 UN Resolution 2758, which led to Taipei losing the China seat at the global body to Beijing "in order to downgrade our sovereign status."
Beijing says World War II documents like the Cairo Declaration, as well as the 1971 UN resolution, give international legal backing to its sovereignty claims over Taiwan.
The government in Taipei says that is nonsense given the UN resolution made no mention of Taiwan, and that the People's Republic of China did not exist until the end of World War II.
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