China has falsely linked UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 with its “one China principle” and used the resolution to legitimize its acts to limit Taiwan’s participation in world bodies and possibly invade Taiwan by force, President William Lai (賴清德) said at the annual meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) in Taipei yesterday.
UN Resolution 2758 was passed by the UN General Assembly on Oct. 25, 1971, stating that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is the legitimate government of China, which led to the PRC replacing the Republic of China (ROC), Taiwan’s official name, in the UN.
Beijing’s “one China principle” asserts that there is only one China, which is the PRC and not the ROC, and that it has jurisdiction over Taiwan.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Lai also thanked the US government and the European Parliament for repudiating China’s attempts to link the resolution and its “one China principle.”
Meanwhile, Taiwan was formally welcomed yesterday as an official IPAC member at the group’s annual meeting.
“Taiwan will do its best to put out a democratic protection umbrella with our democratic partners to keep them away from the threat of authoritarianism,” Lai said.
Photo courtesy of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China
The president said Taiwan hopes to realize this goal by adhering to the “four pillars.”
Lai in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal in July last year defined the pillars as building up the nation’s defense capabilities, promoting economic security and fostering supply chain resilience, forming partnerships with other democracies, and maintaining steady and principled cross-strait leadership.
Taiwan is resolute in its determination to maintain regional peace and stability, and deeply believes that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait are linked with the development of global democracy, he said.
Lai cited recent Chinese aggression in the East and South China seas, and its joint military exercises with Russia as evidence of threats posed by autocratic expansion, while also citing this year’s NATO summit declaration that “China has become a decisive enabler of Russia’s war against Ukraine.”
During the meeting, all IPAC members agreed that China has distorted UN Resolution 2758 in their home nations and also agreed to enact efforts to support Taiwan’s participation in UN bodies.
The IPAC session stated that the 1971 resolution only confirmed that the PRC was China’s legal representative to the UN. It did not mention Taiwan or its political status, support China’s claims toward Taiwan or explicitly comment on Taiwan’s capability to join the UN and related bodies.
It is regrettable that China has distorted the meaning of Resolution 2758 to imply that it supports China’s “one China principle,” and equally regrettable to see China altering historical documents, changing references to “Taiwan” to “Taiwan, China.”
Separately, at a Ministry of Foreign Affairs banquet on Monday, IPAC chair Olivier Cadic said China’s recent guidelines targeting Taiwan might be in violation of UN human rights principles.
Cadic also called on China to stop its irresponsible and aggressive military actions, and to respect the rights of free passage to all ships sailing through the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) thanked IPAC for raising international awareness about Chinese efforts to undermine the international order, as well as those of members of the G7 and the G20.
The Taipei MRT is open all night tonight following New Year’s Eve festivities, and is offering free rides from nearby Green Line stations. Taipei’s 2025 New Year’s Eve celebrations kick off at Taipei City Hall Square tonight, with performances from the boy band Energy, the South Korean girl group Apink, and singers Gigi Leung (梁詠琪) and Faith Yang (楊乃文). Taipei 101’s annual New Year’s firework display follows at midnight, themed around Taiwan’s Premier12 baseball championship. Estimates say there will be about 200,000 people in attendance, which is more than usual as this year’s celebrations overlap with A-mei’s (張惠妹) concert at Taipei Dome. There are
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday vowed to investigate claims made in a YouTube video about China’s efforts to politically influence young Taiwanese and encourage them to apply for Chinese ID cards. The council’s comments follow Saturday’s release of a video by Taiwanese rapper Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源) and YouTuber “Pa Chiung (八炯)” on China’s “united front” tactics. It is the second video on the subject the pair have released this month. In the video, Chen visits the Taiwan Youth Entrepreneurship Park in Quanzhou in China’s Fujian Province and the Strait Herald news platform in Xiamen, China. The Strait Herald — owned by newspaper
NEW YEAR’S ADDRESS: ‘No matter what threats and challenges Taiwan faces, democracy is the only path,’ William Lai said, urging progress ‘without looking back’ President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday urged parties across the political divide to democratically resolve conflicts that have plagued domestic politics within Taiwan’s constitutional system. In his first New Year’s Day address since becoming president on May 20 last year, Lai touched on several issues, including economic and security challenges, but a key emphasis was on the partisan wrangling that has characterized his first seven months in office. Taiwan has transformed from authoritarianism into today’s democracy and that democracy is the future, Lai said. “No matter what threats and challenges Taiwan faces, democracy is the only path for Taiwan,” he said. “The only choice
CORRUPTION: Twelve other people were convicted on charges related to giving illegal benefits, forgery and money laundering, with sentences ranging from one to five years The Yilan District Court yesterday found Yilan County Commissioner Lin Zi-miao (林姿妙) guilty of corruption, sentencing her to 12 years and six months in prison. The Yilan District Prosecutors’ Office in 2022 indicted 10 government officials and five private individuals, including Lin, her daughter and a landowner. Lin was accused of giving illegal favors estimated to be worth NT$2.4 million (US$73,213) in exchange for using a property to conduct activities linked to the 2020 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential and legislative election campaigns. Those favors included exempting some property and construction firms from land taxes and building code contraventions that would have required