Written by: Chinese Ambassador, Yin Chengwu
Monrovia, Liberia – This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the World Anti-Fascist War, and the restoration of Taiwan to China. Taiwan’s restoration to China is a victorious outcome of WWII and an integral part of the post-war international order.
To date, 183 countries including the Republic of Liberia have established and developed diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China on the basis of the one-China principle. The one-China principle has become the basic norm in international relations and represents the universal consensus of the international community.
Taiwan ’s belonging to China has a sound basis in history. The earliest references to this effect are to be found, among others, in Seaboard Geographic Gazetteer compiled in the year 230 by Shen Ying of the State of Wu during the Three Kingdoms Period. The royal court of the Sui Dynasty had on three occasions sent troops to Taiwan, called Liuqiu at that time. Starting from the Song and Yuan dynasties, the imperial central governments of China all set up administrative bodies to exercise jurisdiction over Penghu and Taiwan. In 1624, Dutch colonialists invaded and occupied the southern part of Taiwan.
In 1662, General Zheng Chenggong, hailed as a national hero, led an expedition and expelled them from the island. Subsequently, the Qing court gradually set up more administrative bodies in Taiwan. In 1684, a Taiwan prefecture administration was set up under the jurisdiction of Fujian Province. In 1885, Taiwan’s status was upgraded and it became the 20th province of China. In July 1894, Japan launched a war of aggression against China.
In April 1895, the defeated Qing government was forced to cede Taiwan and the Penghu Islands to Japan through the Treaty of Shimonoseki. The Treaty of Shimonoseki was an unequal treaty that surrenders a country’s sovereign rights under humiliating terms, but the fact of cession itself proves that Taiwan and the Penghu Islands were already part of China’s territory before 1895.
Taiwan’s belonging to China has a sound basis in jurisprudence. On December 9, 1941, the Chinese government issued a declaration of war against Japan, and proclaimed that all treaties, conventions, agreements, and contracts regarding relations between China and Japan had been abrogated, and that China would recover Taiwan and the Penghu Islands. The Cairo Declaration issued by China, the United States and the United Kingdom on December 1, 1943 stated that it was the purpose of the three allies that all the territories Japan had stolen from China, such as Northeast China, Taiwan and the Penghu Islands, should be restored to China.
The Potsdam Proclamation was signed by China, the United States and the United Kingdom on July 26, 1945, and subsequently recognized by the Soviet Union. It reiterated: “The terms of the Cairo Declaration shall be carried out.” In September of the same year, Japan signed the instrument of surrender, in which it promised that it would faithfully fulfill the obligations laid down in the Potsdam Proclamation. On October 25, the Chinese government announced that it was resuming the exercise of sovereignty over Taiwan, and the ceremony to accept Japan’s surrender in Taiwan Province of the China war theater of the Allied powers was held in Taibei (Taipei).
The Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Proclamation, the Japanese Instrument of Surrender and other documents of international law all recognized China’s sovereignty over Taiwan, which was an important result of the world anti-fascist war and laid down the legal cornerstone of the post-war international order. From that point forward, China had recovered Taiwan de jure and de facto through a host of documents with international legal effect.
Taiwan’s status as part of China’s territory will not change. Not long after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the civil war broke out in China. Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese people overthrew the government of the Republic of China. The Kuomintang (KMT) regime headed by Chiang Kai-shek, who launched the civil war, retreated to Taiwan after the defeat.
In 1949, the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was established, replacing the government of the Republic of China as the sole legal government representing the whole of China. It was a change of government without changing China as a subject of international law. China’s sovereignty and inherent territorial boundaries did not change. Rightfully, the government of the People’s Republic of China fully enjoys and exercises China’s sovereignty, including that over Taiwan.
At its 26th session in October 1971, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 2758, which undertook “to restore all its rights to the People’s Republic of China and to recognize the representatives of its Government as the only legitimate representatives of China to the United Nations, and to expel forthwith the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek from the place which they unlawfully occupy at the United Nations and in all the organizations related to it”.
This resolution settled once and for all the political, legal and procedural issues of China’s representation in the UN, and it covered the whole country, including Taiwan. It also spelled out that China has one single seat in the UN, so there is no such thing as “two Chinas” or “one China, one Taiwan”. The specialized agencies of the UN later adopted further resolutions restoring to the PRC its lawful seat and expelling the representatives of the Taiwan authorities.
One of these is Resolution 25.1 adopted at the 25th World Health Assembly in May 1972. It was clearly stated in the official legal opinions of the Office of Legal Affairs of the UN Secretariat that “the United Nations considers ‘Taiwan’ as a province of China with no separate status”. At the UN the island is referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China”. This has been the consistent position of the United Nations and is well documented.
Liberia was the first country in the world to recognize the one-China principle in the form of legislation. Since the election of President Joseph Nyuma Boakai and his assumption of office, the Liberian side has repeatedly reaffirmed its adherence to the one-China principle. On November 23, 2023, President-elect Boakai issued a special statement indicating that he and his new government would be firmly committed to the one-China principle.
In January 2024, in an interview and meeting with President Xi Jinping’s special envoy, President Boakai remphasized that he was the President of the Senate when the One China Policy was codified as Liberian law and he intends to uphold and respect the law. Liberia is committed to the One China Policy and does not intend to change. In September 2024, President Boakai visited China to participate in the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and reaffirmed Liberia’s commitment to the one-China principle. China highly appreciates the above statements.
Reviewing the historical context of the Taiwan question, we can clearly see that there is only one China in the world, and Taiwan has been an inalienable part of China’s territory since ancient times. The historical and legal facts are indisputable, and the authority of UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 is not to be challenged. Taiwan has never been a country in the past, is not one now, and will never become one in the future. No matter how the situation in Taiwan changes, and no matter how external forces may stir up trouble, the historical trend of China’s eventual and inevitable reunification is unstoppable.
