DPP lawmakers urge bipartisan support for proposal on U.N. Resolution 2758

Taipei, Sept. 18 (CNA) Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers on Wednesday called for support for their legislative proposal that would reject Beijing's interpretation of a United Nations resolution that it says justifies its claims over Taiwan.

"Now is the moment for Taiwan to show unity" and let the world "hear the true voice from Taiwan," DPP Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) said at a press conference, urging lawmakers from the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP) to back the proposed motion.

The proposed motion aims to reject China's "misinterpretation" of U.N. Resolution 2758, Chiu said, noting that the U.N. statement did not mention Taiwan, address its political status or establish China's sovereignty over Taiwan.

Beijing claims that the U.N. resolution "confirmed" its One China principle, which asserts there is only one China in the world and Taiwan is "an inalienable part of China."

"Taiwan is not a part of China," Chiu said, adding that the U.N. resolution should not be an obstacle stopping Taiwan from participating in the international community.

Meanwhile, DPP Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) said Beijing's skewing of the resolution was part of its efforts to expand its jurisdiction, and that it was critical for Taiwan to devise a strategy to deal with it.

The DPP initiative, which requires backing by more than half of all attending lawmakers, came shortly after the Australian Senate and the Dutch House of Representatives passed similar motions concerning the U.N. resolution over the past month.

Their motions were modeled on a resolution adopted by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) during its summit in July. Members will seek to redress what they called China's "distortion" of the U.N. resolution by passing motions in their respective parliaments.

The group has more than 250 parliamentarian members from around the world.

During the IPAC summit in Taipei, President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) also called out Beijing for its inaccurate interpretation of U.N. Resolution 2758, including drawing an inappropriate linkage to its "One China" principle.

This move aims to not only "construct a legal basis for China's military aggression against Taiwan" but to also impede Taiwan's efforts to take part in international organizations, Lai said at the time.

The U.N. resolution, passed in the 1971 General Assembly, recognizes the People's Republic of China as "the only legitimate representatives of China to the United Nations" and confirms the expulsion of "the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek from the place which they unlawfully occupy" at the U.N.