By Francis Kobena Tandoh
Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory, and the government of the People’s Republic of China will not surrender it; this is according to Chinese Ambassador to Ghana H.E. Tong Defa late Thursday.
Addressing a press briefing in the Ghanaian capital of Accra, he observed that the position of the Chinese government on the Taiwan question is quite clear and that the one-China principle is a prevailing consensus in the international community.
He explained that a series of documents with legal effect in international laws, including the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, all affirm that Taiwan is a part of China.
“Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory, and the government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China. Taiwan will not be surrendered by China,” said Ambassador Tong.
The Chinese Ambassador to Ghana dispelled Western propaganda against the Chinese government for denying Taiwanese nationals access to mainland China, but has rather opened its doors to them since they are one people.
“The Chinese government does not prevent Taiwanese from getting to mainland China. It is the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government in Taiwan that is preventing the people from getting to mainland China,” added H.E. Tong.
Taiwan has been an integral part of China since ancient times, with a clear historical context and indisputable legal foundations.
In April 1895, following defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Qing Dynasty at the time was forced to cede Taiwan and the Penghu Islands by the “Treaty of Shimonoseki,” which led to the occupation of Taiwan by Japan for 50 years.
At the end of World War Two, the Cairo Declaration, issued by China, the United States, and the United Kingdom on December 1, 1943, stated that all the territories that Japan had stolen from China, such as Northeast China, Taiwan, and the Penghu Islands, should be restored to China.
On July 26, 1945, the Potsdam Proclamation, signed by China, the United States, and the United Kingdom and subsequently recognized by the Soviet Union, now Russia, reiterated that “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 the Taiwan Province of the China War Theater of the Allied Powers was held in 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.
In 1949, after the civil war between the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Kuomintang (KMT) Party, the People’s Republic of China was founded. The KMT fled to Taiwan.
UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, adopted in 1971, fully restored all rights to the People’s Republic of China in the UN, including the permanent member status of the UN Security Council, recognized the PRC government as the sole legal representative of China in the UN, and expelled the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek from the UN and all its affiliated institutions.
Resolution 2758 legally settled the issue of China’s representation in the UN, affirming that Taiwan is part of China and has no UN seat, and strengthened the one-China principle in international relations recognized by over 180 countries.
Some 26 African countries, including Ghana, voted for the PRC in favour of the resolution, fully demonstrating the unbreakable, long-standing, and ever-deepening friendship between China and Ghana. End item
Source: Ghana Eye Report
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