Taiwan slams China for designating Oct. 25 'Taiwan Restoration' day

Taipei, Oct. 24 (CNA) Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday slammed Beijing's designation of Oct. 25 as "Commemoration Day of Taiwan's Restoration," calling it a move to "fabricate" the claim that Taiwan belongs to the People's Republic of China (PRC, China's official name).

The decision by the Chinese authorities to establish a so-called "Commemoration Day of Taiwan's Restoration" is an attempt to "belittle our country and fabricate the claim that Taiwan belongs to the PRC," MAC said in a statement issued Friday evening.

As Taiwan's top agency for cross-strait affairs, the MAC said the Taiwanese people "will never accept" such a move, criticizing Beijing for trying to amplify a false historical narrative and one-sided political framework of "one China across the Taiwan Strait" and "one China internationally."

"Taiwan Retrocession Day commemorates Oct. 25, 1945, when representatives of the Republic of China (ROC, Taiwan's official name), on behalf of the Allied powers, accepted the surrender of Japanese forces in Taiwan," MAC said.

The council also noted that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had not yet established the PRC in 1945.

"Taiwan Retrocession Day has nothing to do with the PRC, nor with the CCP, which made no positive contribution to the war against Japan," the council added.

MAC's statement came after China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reported earlier in the day that the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress -- NPC, the top legislative body in China -- had adopted a decision to designate Oct. 25 as the "Commemoration Day of Taiwan's Restoration."

The decision, made in accordance with the PRC Constitution, stipulates that the state "hold commemorative activities in various forms" on Oct. 25 to mark the commemoration day, the Xinhua report read.

"The restoration of Taiwan is an important outcome of the War of Resistance [against Japanese Aggression] and a compelling proof of the Chinese government's recovery of sovereignty over Taiwan," Xinhua said, citing the decision.

"It is also an important part of the historical fact and legal chain that Taiwan is an integral part of China," Xinhua added.

According to the report, Shen Chunyao (沈春耀), director of the NPC Standing Committee's Legislative Affairs Commission, told the committee that the ceremony to accept Japan's surrender "in the Taiwan Province of the China war theater of the Allied powers" was held in Taipei on Oct. 25, 1945.

"From that point on, Taiwan and the Penghu Islands returned to China's sovereign jurisdiction," Shen added.

He said establishing the commemoration day and holding commemorative activities "at the national level" would serve purposes such as honoring the "indisputable fact that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China" and consolidating the international community's "commitment to the one-China principle."

It can also motivate "all Chinese to strive together for national reunification and national rejuvenation," Shen added.

Before the Chinese government designated Oct. 25 as the "Commemoration Day of Taiwan's Restoration" on Friday, the Taiwanese government had already designated the day "Taiwan Retrocession Day and Memorial Day of Great Victory at Kuningtou Kinmen" and made it a public holiday in 2025 after a 24-year hiatus.

That decision was made after a vote in the Legislature supported by the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP) but opposed by the governing Democratic Progressive Party.

"Taiwan Retrocession Day" had long been a public holiday in Taiwan until December 2000, when the then-Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) administration revised the law, announcing that from 2001 seven national holidays -- including "Taiwan Retrocession Day" -- would be retained only as commemorative days with no day off.

To the ROC government, "Taiwan Retrocession Day" commemorates the transfer of control of Taiwan proper and the Penghu Islands from Japan to the ROC on Oct. 25, 1945, after 50 years of Japanese colonial rule. That transfer date was nearly four years before the founding of the PRC on Oct. 1, 1949.

Despite the ROC government's relocation to Taipei in late 1949 at the end of the Chinese Civil War, Taiwan and the outlying islands of Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu remain under ROC control to date and have never been ruled by the PRC, which claims sovereignty over these areas.

As 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the ROC and the PRC have clashed multiple times over their respective roles in the Second Sino-Japanese War and over commemorations such as Sept. 3 Victory over Japan Day and Oct. 25 Taiwan Retrocession Day.