On 80th anniversary of VE Day, Taiwan and China battle over history

Taipei, May 8 (CNA) Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) on Thursday slammed a historical argument made by Xi Jinping (習近平) for China's sovereignty over Taiwan, calling it "deceptive" and "contrary to the facts."

In an article published in the Russian Gazette Wednesday, the Chinese president said that 2025 not only marks 80 years since the end of World War II and the founding of the United Nations, but also "Taiwan's restoration to China."

"A series of instruments with legal effect under international law, including the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation have affirmed China's sovereignty over Taiwan," Xi wrote.

"The historical and legal fact" of these documents, as well as the authority of U.N. Resolution 2758 "brooks no challenge," Xi wrote in the piece.

In a response issued Thursday, MOFA condemned the article as a "fallacy" that "confused right and wrong and is contrary to the facts."

It noted that at the time of the Cairo Declaration in 1943 and the Potsdam Declaration in 1945, the People's Republic of China (PRC) did not even exist.

Rather, the status of Taiwan, Penghu and affiliated islands after World War II was resolved by those documents and others, including the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, the Treaty of San Francisco in 1951 and the Treaty of Taipei (the Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty) in 1952, MOFA said.

All of these documents followed a practice set down in the Cairo Declaration, that Taiwan and its affiliated islands, including the contested Diaoyutai Islands, should be returned to the Republic of China (ROC), MOFA said.

As for U.N. Resolution 2758, MOFA noted that the resolution's text does not mention Taiwan or state that Taiwan is a part of the PRC.

In legal terms, it does not authorize the PRC to represent Taiwan in the United Nations or U.N. agencies, MOFA said.

Approved in 1971, U.N. Resolution 2758 recognized the PRC as the only legitimate government of China, and expelled "the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石)." Chiang was the then-leader of the ROC, which governs Taiwan.

MOFA went on to say that Beijing's attempts to distort historical facts and mislead the international community with its one-China principle were intended to "legally eliminate the fact that the Republic of China (Taiwan) is a sovereign state" along with its right to participate in the U.N. system.

Xi's article, entitled "Learning from History to Build Together a Brighter Future," was published ahead of his planned attendance at Victory in Europe (VE) Day celebrations in Moscow on May 9.

Russia celebrates VE Day on May 9 because it was after midnight in Moscow when the ceasefire ending the war came into force in Berlin just after 11 p.m. on May 8, 1945.

Taiwan, meanwhile, commemorated VE Day for the first time on Thursday at a reception in Taipei attended by President Lai Ching-te (賴清德).