By E. S. HAN Chunlin, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China to Romania
For some time, some countries have been maliciously spreading misconceptions that UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 „does not resolve Taiwan’s status” and „Taiwan’s meaningful contribution to the United Nations is not prohibited”, trying to stir up the „Taiwan is part of China” discussion that has long been settled by the international community and denying the authority and validity of UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 and the „One China” principle. These actions of bucking the trend and reversing the thread of history is not only a challenge to China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, but also a challenge to the country’s justice and conscience, as well as the post-war international order. This is undoubtedly ignorant, malicious and vain.
The island of Taiwan has been part of China since ancient times – that is a historical fact and an international consensus. The Cairo Declaration of 1943 and the Potsdam Proclamation of 1945 established with certainty that Taiwan, the Chinese territory stolen by Japan, must be returned to China. These documents, which possess international legal force, laid the foundation for the legal principle that the island of Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory. At the 26th Session of the UN General Assembly held in 1971, Resolution 2758 was adopted by an overwhelming majority, thus fully reflecting and solemnly affirming the „One China” principle. Romania, as a co-initiating country, played an important role in the adoption of the resolution. The resolution clearly restores the place of the People’s Republic of China and at the same time „removes Chiang Kai-shek’s representatives from the illegally occupied seat at the table United Nations and within all affiliated structures”. From a political, legal and procedural perspective, the issue of China’s representation as a unitary whole in the UN, including Taiwan, has been clearly and completely resolved. It has been made clear that there is only one seat for China at the UN table, that the Government of China is the only legitimate representative and that there is no such thing as „Two China” or „One China, One Taiwan”.
Any fallacy that falsifies the One China principle and misinterprets UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 must have no place in the international community. Since the adoption of the resolution, the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs has issued a number of legal opinions, which state that ‘Taiwan is part of China’, ‘Taiwan as a province of China does not have independent status’, ‘Taiwan authorities do not enjoy any form of government status’ and ‘when mentioning Taiwan in official documents, only the expression Taiwan Province of China should be used’.
UN Secretary General Guterres has reiterated many times that the UN position is very clear, namely to respect UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 and the One China principle. All UN actions are based on this. Many international organisations, including the World Health Assembly, have issued resolutions and bills emphasising that Taiwan, as part of China’s territory, has no basis, reason or right to be part of the United Nations or other international organisations in which only sovereign states can participate. 183 countries, including Romania, have established and developed diplomatic relations with China on the basis of adherence to the ‘one China’ principle. All this clearly shows that the „one China” principle is not just the universal consensus of the international community, but has become a basic norm of international relations.
In the face of black and white words and legal facts and principles, some countries seem to be ‘blind’ and suffer from ‘amnesia’, still trying to distort and slander UN General Assembly Resolution 2758. This is in fact a behaviour of using international law and the basic rules governing international relations in a selective and utilitarian way, also a symbol of aggression. However, the era when hegemony and power dominated international relations is gone forever. Every country has only the obligation to strictly abide by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 and does not have the privilege of arbitrarily distorting the ‘one China’ principle!
The two sides of the strait are linked by deep ethnic roots and cannot be separated. China will eventually achieve complete unification and Taiwan will return to the motherland. This is the firm will of over 1.4 billion Chinese and an inevitable trend of history that no force can stop. We believe in the Chinese government and its and the people’s just cause to protect national sovereignty and territorial integrity by opposing separation through „Taiwan independence” and achieving national unification, which will continue to receive understanding and support from the international community.
