U.K. parliament rejects China's U.N.-related claims on Taiwan

London, Nov 28 (CNA) The British Parliament adopted a motion on Taiwan's international status on Thursday, making it the latest body to reject China's interpretation of United Nations Resolution 2758, which it has used to make territorial claims over Taiwan.

The motion, which was adopted by the U.K. House of Commons after a debate on "the international status of Taiwan," stipulated that the U.N. resolution does not address Taiwan's political status nor establish the People's Republic of China (PRC) sovereignty over Taiwan.

The U.K. Parliament thus followed Canada, the European Parliament, the Netherlands and Australia in following an initiative by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) to reject efforts by China to "distort" the meaning of the U.N. resolution in its favor.

The IPAC is a cross-national parliamentary group that consists of hundreds of lawmakers from 35 countries concerned about the PRC's threats to global democracy.

The motion said the U.N. resolution passed in 1971 "is silent both on the status of Taiwan in the U.N. and on Taiwan's participation in U.N. agencies," and it urged the U.K. government to "condemn efforts made by representatives of the PRC to distort the meaning of U.N. Resolution 2758."

Speaking on behalf of the government following the debate, Labour MP Catherine West, the parliamentary under-secretary of state for Indo-Pacific, said the U.N. resolution "did indeed decide that only the People's Republic of China should represent China" in the world body.

Nevertheless, she said, the document "made no separate or additional determination on the status of Taiwan" and hence it "should not be used to preclude Taiwan's meaningful participation in the U.N. or the wider international system."

The U.K. "opposes any attempts to broaden the interpretation of Resolution 2758 [or] to rewrite history," West said.

"We believe that the people of Taiwan make an invaluable contribution to areas of global concern, and the exclusion of Taiwanese expertise is a loss, both to the people of Taiwan and to the people of the U.K.," she said.

She said the U.K. would continue to engage with Taiwan "within the bounds of our unofficial relationship" and "continue to be a staunch advocate for Taiwan's meaningful international participation."

Both Taiwan's Presidential Office and Ministry of Foreign Affairs have applauded the move.

Presidential Office spokesperson Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said Friday afternoon (Taipei time) that the passage of the motion added to the global support for Taiwan's democratic values and bids for international participation.

Taiwan is willing to stand alongside democratic allies to jointly defend the shared values of freedom, democracy and human rights, she said in a statement.

The resolution was not welcomed by Beijing, however.

In a separate statement, the Chinese embassy in the U.K. said it "firmly opposes and strongly condemns" the motion "cooked up by a handful of anti-China MPs" and "urge[s] the relevant politicians to stop their clumsy political farce and stop challenging the One China principle."

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."

The resolution, passed by the 1971 General Assembly, recognized the PRC as "the only legitimate representatives of China to the United Nations" and confirmed the expulsion of "the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek" from the world body.

The resolution addressed the issue of China's representation at the U.N. and resulted in Taiwan, officially named the Republic of China (ROC), losing its seat to the PRC.