In a 26 October opinion piece in a UK newspaper, Mr. Zheng Zeguang claimed that “Taiwan has never been a country” and that “the return of Taiwan to China is an important part of the outcomes of World War II.” The Taipei Representative Office in the United Kingdom firmly rejects these statements, which deliberately mislead the international community.
1. The UK only acknowledged China’s claim to Taiwan
In the 1972 joint communiqué with the People’s Republic of China, the UK government merely acknowledged the position of the Chinese government that Taiwan is a province of the People’s Republic of China. This differs fundamentally from recognising or accepting China’s claim. Mr. Zheng’s deliberate conflation of acknowledgement and recognition misleads the international community.
2. UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 does not address the sovereignty of Taiwan
UNGA Resolution 2758 (1971) dealt solely with the question of China’s representation in the United Nations. It does not mention Taiwan, nor does it address Taiwan’s sovereignty. Taiwan appreciates that the UK government, in a November 2024 parliamentary response, clearly stated that the resolution “made no separate or additional determination on the status of Taiwan and should not therefore be used to preclude Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the UN or the wider international system.” The UK government also reaffirmed that it “opposes any attempt to broaden the interpretation of Resolution 2758 to rewrite history.”
The PRC’s attempt to link Resolution 2758 with its so-called “One China Principle,” and to present this as upholding the post-war international order, is highly misleading. The core of the post-World War II international order is the prohibition of the use of force and opposition to expansionism. Beijing’s false argument, with which it aims to justify its attempts to change the status quo, constitutes a serious violation of both the outcomes of World War II and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, posing a profound threat to the international order established after the war.
3. Current reality and international law demonstrate that Taiwan is not part of the PRC
Since its founding in 1912, the Republic of China (Taiwan) has been a sovereign and independent state, and for over 70 years, it has operated freely in Taiwan. It has a democratically elected government and its own military, judicial system, and currency. Only Taiwan’s elected government can legitimately represent the 23 million people of Taiwan within the UN system and other multilateral international mechanisms. By contrast, the People’s Republic of China, since its establishment in 1949, has never exercised any governance or administrative authority over Taiwan. Neither side of the Taiwan Strait is subordinate to the other—this is an established historical and factual reality. Beijing’s claim that “Taiwan has been an inalienable part of Chinese territory since ancient times” lacks any historical or legal basis.
4. Taiwan values principles of democracy and the rule-of-law shared with the UK
Taiwan and the UK are like-minded partners that shared many fundamental values, such as democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law; the two sides have long enjoyed close exchange and cooperation. Taiwan appreciates that the UK government has repeatedly, in bilateral and G7 statements alongside democratic partners including the US, Japan, France, and Australia, emphasised the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and opposed any unilateral attempts to alter the status quo. Taiwan will continue to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation with the UK across trade, technology, education, and culture, while jointly safeguarding a free and open Indo-Pacific and upholding the rules-based international order.
