Beijing reaffirms one-China principle

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China issued a position paper on Tuesday, expounding on the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758, and reiterating that the one-China principle must be upheld, while warning against any attempt to challenge the resolution.

The paper, released on the Foreign Ministry's website, said Resolution 2758 solemnly confirms and fully embodies the one-China principle.

Adopted at the UN General Assembly's 26th session in October 1971, the resolution "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".

The paper emphasized that the one-China principle is the premise and foundation of the resolution, which resolved once and for all the question of the representation of the whole of China — including Taiwan — at the UN, as a political, legal and procedural issue. The resolution, it added, "brooks no challenge to its legitimacy, validity and authority".

"The resolution makes it clear that there is but one China in the world and the Government of the People's Republic of China is the only legitimate representative of the whole of China, including the Taiwan region," it said, adding that the resolution "completely precluded any possibility of creating 'two Chinas' or 'one China, one Taiwan'".

The UN is an international organization of sovereign states, and accepts only representatives from such states, the paper said, adding that Taiwan, which is part of China and not a sovereign state, has no right to send representatives to it.

After the resolution's adoption, all official UN documents have referred to Taiwan as "Taiwan, Province of China", it said. The adoption made the one-China principle a basic norm of international relations and a prevailing consensus in the international community, it added.

The position paper also recalled how the United States and other countries attempted to obstruct the efforts of the People's Republic of China to regain its lawful seat in the UN, and how those attempts failed.

"The whole process leading to the adoption of Resolution 2758 speaks volumes for the irreversible trend of the international community to uphold the one-China principle, and there is no 'two Chinas' or 'one China, one Taiwan'," it said.

The resolution states that the restoration of the lawful rights of the People's Republic of China is essential both for the protection of the UN Charter and for the cause that the UN must serve under the charter.

Recalling these words, the position paper said the UN is at the center of the post-World War II international order.

Any attempt to challenge the resolution constitutes not only a challenge to China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, but also a challenge to the authority of the UN and the international order, it said.

Warning that "flagrantly reversing the course of history is absurd and highly dangerous", the paper said the status of Taiwan as a part of China's territory has never changed and shall never change.

wangqingyun@chinadaily.com.cn