The delegation of the nationalist Chinese of Taiwan are pictured leaving the United Nations Assembly Hall on Oct. 25, 1971, prior to the vote on resolution to recognize the representatives of the People’s Republic of China as the only legitimate representative of China to the United Nations. File Photo by UN/UPI
Oct. 25 (UPI) — The Peoples Republic of China on Monday celebrated the 50th anniversary of its recognition by the United Nations as the “only legitimate representative of China” over its democratic rival Taiwan.
Top Chinese leaders marked the occasion with praise for U.N. Resolution 2758, adopted on Oct. 25, 1971, which removed China’s seat in the world body from the Republic of China, the nationalist government that fled to the island of Taiwan after losing the Chinese civil war in 1949, and awarded it to the mainland’s communist government.
The 1971 vote “was a momentous event for the world and the United Nations,” Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said in Beijing. “It marked the return of the Chinese people, or one-fourth of the world’s population, back to the U.N. stage. The importance was significant and far-reaching for both China and the wider world.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping marked the occasion by attending a conference and delivering a speech reviewing China’s past contributions to the United Nations and laying out its proposals on “deepening cooperation with the U.N., promoting peace and development of the humanity and work toward a community with a shared future for mankind,” Wang said.
Xi, he said, committed China to “opposing all forms of hegemony and power politics, as well as all forms of unilateralism and protectionism.”
China’s leaders see Taiwan as “an inalienable part of China” and refer to the leaders of its governing Democratic Progressive Party as “secessionists.” The Communist Party’s official “one-China principle” demands that the only way for Taiwan to join international organizations is as a part of mainland China.
U.S. officials, however, announced Saturday that talks have begun with Taiwan about again making contributions to the U.N. and other international organizations independent of Beijing — a development that quickly drew criticism from the communist authorities.
The State Department said the talks with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office focused on “supporting Taiwan’s ability to participate meaningfully at the U.N.” and to make meaningful contributions in global challenges such as public health, the environment and climate change, development assistance, technical standards and economic cooperation.
China’s Wang Wenbin on Monday urged the United States to “stop official contact with Taiwan” and to “refrain from sending wrong signals to the ‘Taiwan independence’ forces in any form.”