Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning on Tuesday rejected the false claims made by  Lai Ching-te, leader of China's Taiwan region, regarding UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, stressing that Taiwan has never been a country and will never become one, and that Lai's distortion of the resolution exposes the separatist nature of his "Taiwan independence" agenda.

Taiwan has never been a country and will never be a country. The Lai Ching-te authorities' deliberate distortion of UNGA Resolution 2758 once again revealed their separatist nature for "Taiwan independence." Their rhetoric will not change the historical and legal fact that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one and the same China, nor will it undermine the international community's steadfast commitment to one China, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Tuesday when asked to comment on Lai's false claim at an event that China is contorting UNGA Resolution 2758. Taiwan is a "sovereign independent nation" while the resolution only addresses the People's Republic of China's representation at the UN and has nothing to do with Taiwan.

Mao said there is but one China in the world, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory. This is an unshakable fact grounded in both history and law.

The Cairo Declaration issued by China, the U.S. and the UK in 1943 stated in explicit terms that Taiwan is a territory that Japan had stolen and shall be restored to China. The Potsdam Proclamation in 1945 reaffirmed that the terms of the Cairo Declaration shall be carried out. This series of instruments with legal effect under international law have all clearly affirmed China's sovereignty over Taiwan, Mao said.

The spokesperson noted that UNGA Resolution 2758 solemnly reaffirmed the one-China principle, which "decides to restore all its rights to the People's Republic of China and to recognize the representatives of its Government as the only legitimate representatives of China to the United Nations."

From political, legal and procedural aspects, the resolution resolved once and for all the question of the representation of the whole of China, including Taiwan, in the UN. It made clear that there is only one seat of China in the United Nations, Mao said.

"There is no such thing as 'two Chinas' or 'one China, one Taiwan'," the spokesperson stressed.

Global Times