Taiwan refutes China's position paper on U.N. resolution 2758

Taipei, Oct. 1 (CNA) The Republic of China (Taiwan) government on Wednesday refuted Tuesday a People's Republic of China (PRC) position paper on Resolution 2758 adopted by the United Nations in 1971, which Beijing has used as the basis to claim sovereignty over Taiwan.

In a statement, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said U.N. resolution 2758 only expelled the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), then the Chinese government leader, "from the place which they unlawfully occupy at the United Nations and in all the organizations related to it."

The resolution does not mention Taiwan. It also does not state that Taiwan is part of China nor give the PRC the right to represent Taiwan in the U.N., MOFA said.

China's misinterpretation of the resolution is "absurd and ridiculous" and "exposed China's attempt to sabotage the rules-based world order," MOFA said in its statement.

MOFA reaffirms neither the ROC (Taiwan) nor the PRC is subordinate to the other; and that the PRC regime has never governed Taiwan.

"Only Taiwan's democratically elected government can represent the country's 23 million people in the U.N.," it added.

MOFA's comments were made in response to a PRC position paper on Resolution 2758 issued on the website of its foreign ministry on Tuesday, a day after the General Debate of the 80th session of the U.N. General Assembly concluded on Monday in New York.

According to the Chinese position paper, Resolution 2758 "confirms and fully embodies the one-China principle," which sees the PRC as the "sole legal government representing the whole of China," including "the Taiwan region."

It further accuses the United States and a handful of other countries of "distorting and challenging Resolution 2758" in a bid to pave the way for Taiwan to seek "international space."

Taiwan has never been an independent country, not in the past, not at present and still less in the future," it added.

Resolution 2758 was adopted by the 26th U.N. General Assembly in 1971 to address the issue of China's representation at the international body.

It resulted in Taiwan, officially named the ROC, losing its seat at the U.N. to the PRC. Taipei has since been excluded from participating in the international organization and its affiliates.

Washington has repeatedly accused Beijing of making "coercive efforts" to exclude Taiwan from the international community with the "misuse" of UN Resolution 2758.

"Intentional misuse and mischaracterization of UNGA resolution 2758 is part of China's broader coercive efforts to isolate Taiwan from the international community," according to a U.S. Department of State spokesperson in March.

The resolution "puts no limits on any country's sovereign choice to engage substantively with Taiwan," and it "does not preclude Taiwan's meaningful participation in the United Nations system and other multilateral fora," the spokesperson said.