China angered by EU ‘challenging’ UN resolution that led to Taiwan leaving global body
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China says that UN resolution 2758 gives international legal backing to its territorial claims over Taiwan.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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TAIPEI – China called on the European Union on Oct 7 not to “challenge” a 1971 UN resolution that led to Beijing assuming China’s seat in the organisation from Taipei.
China and Taiwan, which Beijing views as its own territory, have been locked in an increasingly bitter dispute about UN Resolution 2758. China says the resolution gives international legal backing to its territorial claims over Taiwan, and reiterated that point in a long Foreign Ministry statement last week that Taipei condemned.
The EU said the UN resolution that led to Beijing assuming China’s seat from Taiwan was about switching representation and did not mention Taiwan. China’s Foreign Ministry said the EU remarks were a “distortion” of the resolution.
“We urge the EU side to strictly abide by the ‘one China’ principle and its promises on the Taiwan issue, not challenge UN Resolution 2758 and not send any wrong signals to Taiwan independence separatist forces,” it said.
Beijing demands countries respect its “one China” principle that states both sides of the Taiwan Strait are part of a single China.
“United Nations Resolution 2758 is very short – only 150 words. And among those 150 words, the word ‘Taiwan’ does not appear,” an EU spokesperson said in a statement via e-mail. “The resolution switched representation in the UN from the ‘representatives of Chiang Kai-shek’ to the ‘representatives of the Government of the People’s Republic of China’,” the spokesperson added, referring to Taiwan’s then leader.
In response, China’s Foreign Ministry said that it was “extremely dissatisfied and resolutely opposed” to the EU remarks.
The comments also come after the US State Department said last week that China was intentionally mischaracterising and misusing the resolution
The EU spokesperson said: “As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China has a special responsibility in upholding the rules-based international order, the United Nations Charter and international law. This includes the prohibition of the use of force and the maintenance of international peace and security.”
Taiwan says Beijing is trying to use its “misleading” interpretation of the resolution to create the legal basis for a future attempt to invade and take over the island.
Taiwan’s formal name is the Republic of China, and it held on to China’s UN seat post-1949, when its government fled to the island after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong’s communists, until the 1971 resolution was passed.
No EU member state has formal ties with Taiwan, whose government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims. But Taiwan has sought greater support from Europe, with its foreign minister visiting the continent twice in September. REUTERS
