UNGA Resolution 2758 Must Not Be Distorted, One-China Principle Brooks No Challenge
القائم باعمال سفارة الصين بالسودان شو جيان
written by Mr Xu Jian, Charge d’Affaires of Chinese Embassy in Sudan
The Taiwan question bears on China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. It is at the core of China’s core interests. In recent years, however, there have been overseas noises deliberately distorting UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 and playing up the so-called notion that Taiwan’s status is undetermined, in an attempt to negate, obscure and hollow out the one-China principle. Such acts constitute a gross violation of international law and the basic norms governing international relations, and blatantly challenge the post-war international order.
That Taiwan belongs to China has a sound basis in history and jurisprudence. As early as 230 AD, Sun Quan, the king of the State of Wu during the Three Kingdoms period, sent troops to Taiwan. Starting from the Song and Yuan dynasties, the imperial central governments of China began to set up the patrol and inspection agency in Penghu to exercise jurisdiction over Taiwan. In 1684, the Qing court set up a Taiwan prefecture administration under the jurisdiction of Fujian Province. In 1885, it upgraded Taiwan’s status and made Taiwan a full province of China. These clear historical ins and outs provide irrefutable proof that Taiwan has been an inalienable part of China’s territory since ancient times. In 1895, however, Japan forced the defeated Qing government to cede Taiwan to it. In the late period of World War II, instruments with legal effect under international law, including the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, stated in explicit terms that all the territories Japan had stolen from China, such as Taiwan, shall be restored to China. Following the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, China, in October 1945, recovered Taiwan and the Penghu Islands, announcing that it was resuming the exercise of sovereignty over Taiwan. Taiwan’s restoration to China is part and parcel of the postwar international order. In 1949, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was founded. Its Central People’s Government became the only legitimate government of the whole of China, and as a natural result, should enjoy China’s sovereignty over Taiwan. Although the mainland and Taiwan are yet to be reunified, China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity have never been severed, and the fact that the mainland and Taiwan belong to one and the same China has never changed.
UNGA Resolution 2758 derives from and embodies the one-China principle. On October 25, 1971, at the 26th session of the UN General Assembly, Resolution 2758 was adopted with an overwhelming majority, which decides to restore all rights of the PRC in the UN, to recognize the representatives of its Government as the only legitimate representatives of China to the UN, and to expel forthwith the representatives of the Taiwan authorities from the UN and all the organizations related to it. This resolution resolved once and for all the question of the representation of the whole of China, including Taiwan, in the UN, as a political, legal and procedural issue. The one-China principle is the premise and political foundation of UNGA Resolution 2758. The adoption of the resolution marked the recognition of the one-China principle by the overwhelming majority of countries. The one-China principle and the resolution should not be separated, or deliberately distorted, as the latter is underpinned by the former.
The one-China principle is a consensus accepted by the international community and a widely recognized basic norm of international relations. To date, 183 countries have established and developed diplomatic relations with China on the basis of the one-China principle. More and more countries, while reiterating adherence to the one-China principle, have further explicitly opposed any form of “Taiwan independence” and firmly supported the Chinese government’s efforts to achieve national reunification. In multilateral settings, after UNGA Resolution 2758 was adopted, the specialized agencies of the UN adopted further resolutions restoring to the PRC its lawful seat and expelling the representatives of the Taiwan authorities. It was clearly stated in the official legal opinions of the Office of Legal Affairs of the UN Secretariat that “the UN considers ‘Taiwan’ as a province of China with no separate status”, and the “‘authorities’ in ‘Taipei’ are not considered to… enjoy any form of government status”. When it comes to international organizations, ad hoc arrangements have been made, on the basis of the one-China principle, to allow Taiwan to participate in them under the names “Taipei, China” or “Chinese Taipei.” This fully proves that the one-China principle has long been a consensus accepted by the international community and a universally recognized basic norm of international relations, which is unshakable in the international community.
Any attempt to misinterpret Resolution 2758 or challenge its authority is doomed to fail. A handful of external forces claimed that this resolution does not address the representation of Taiwan, or fabricated the so-called notion that Taiwan’s status is undetermined. Such noise is utterly baseless in law and couldn’t be more preposterous in logic. UNGA Resolution 2758 spelled out that China has one single seat in the UN, so there is no such thing as “two Chinas” or “one China, one Taiwan”. Any so-called “new interpretation” of the resolution that is made regardless of its historical context and entire text is nothing but a malicious political manipulation, nor can it cover up its real attempt to challenge the one-China principle. The overwhelming majority of countries are clear-eyed that the Taiwan question is a matter of China’s internal affairs and allows no external interference. To uphold the authority of UNGA Resolution 2758 is to uphold international fairness and justice; to challenge the one-China principle is to undermine the stability of the international order. The government and people of China are confident in and capable of thwarting separatist attempts and external interference in whatever form. Any attempt to distort or challenge UNGA Resolution 2758 and “internationalize” the Taiwan question is doomed to fail.
UNGA Resolution 2758 must not be distorted, and the one-China principle brooks no challenge. The complete reunification of China, a trend of the times, will not be stopped by any individual. China is ready to work with all countries including Sudan, on the basis of the one-China principle, to uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and defend international fairness and justice, so as to make new contributions to building a global community with a shared future for humanity, promoting world peace and development, and propelling human progress.
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