Photo: Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian

The return of Taiwan to China is an important part of the outcomes of victory in World War II and the post-war international order. The series of legally binding documents including the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Proclamation, and the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, clearly affirm China's sovereignty over Taiwan. China urges the US to strictly abide by the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiqués, and cease manipulating the Taiwan question, Lin Jian, a spokesperson of Chinese Foreign Ministry, stated on Wednesday at a press conference.

Lin made the remarks when asked to comment on reports regarding the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) previously claiming that documents such as the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation did not decide Taiwan's final political status and a US State Department spokesperson's endorsement of AIT's claims.

In 1943, the Cairo Declaration issued by China, the US, and the UK explicitly stipulated that Taiwan, stolen by Japan, should be restored to China. In 1945, China, the US, the UK, and the Soviet Union issued the Potsdam Proclamation, which reaffirms that the terms of the Cairo Declaration must be carried out. In the same year, Japan signed the Instrument of Surrender, committing to "faithfully fulfill the obligations laid down in the Potsdam Proclamation." These internationally legally binding documents all clearly confirm China's sovereignty over Taiwan, said the spokesperson.

The spokesperson said that Taiwan is China's Taiwan. As a signatory to the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, the US is fully aware of the historical and legal facts that Taiwan is part of China. Yet, it has blatantly peddled the fallacy that the status of Taiwan has yet to be determined, smeared and discredited China's justified actions to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity, misled international public opinion with ill intentions, gravely violated international law and the basic norms of international relations, sending a serious wrong signal to "Taiwan independence" secession forces.

History is not to be tampered with. The one-China principle represents the universal consensus of the international community. The US' unilateral and distorted interpretation cannot shake the international structure firmly upholding the one-China principle, Lin noted.

China urges the US to stop emboldening and supporting the "Taiwan independence" separatist forces in any form and to cease interfering in China's internal affairs, said Lin. 

"No individual or force can stop China's reunification, an overriding historical trend," Lin said.

Global Times