China says U.S. has no right to distort UNGA Resolution 2758

With regard to United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 2758, the United States has only the obligation to strictly comply with it but no right to misinterpret it arbitrarily, Yang Tao, director general of the Department of North America and Oceanian Affairs of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said on Friday at a briefing to clarify China's position on the resolution.

The briefing came as the U.S. has recently deliberately distorted and challenged the resolution, which was adopted by the 26th UNGA in 1971 to restore the lawful seat of the People's Republic of China at the UN and expel the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek from the place.

At a seminar held by a U.S. think tank last week, Mark Lambert, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs and China Coordinator, said Resolution 2758 "does not endorse, equate to, or reflect an international consensus on the one-China principle" and "has absolutely no bearing on countries' sovereignty choices with respect to their relationships with Taiwan."

"There is but one China in the world. Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory. The Government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China," Yang said, stressing that Resolution 2758 fully reflects and solemnly recognizes the one-China principle.

Yang noted that Resolution 2758 stated in black and white that it "decides 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."

The resolution resolved once and for all, politically, legally and procedurally, the issue of the representation of the whole of China, including Taiwan, at the UN. It made clear that Taiwan is not a country but a part of China's territory, and there can only be one seat representing China at the UN, and it precluded the possibility of "two Chinas" or "one China, one Taiwan," said Yang.

Since the adoption of the resolution, the one-China principle has been observed by the UN and its specialized agencies on the Taiwan question, Yang said, adding Taiwan is referred to as "Taiwan, province of China" in all UN's official documents.

As stipulated in the UN Charter, the one-China principle is the principle that all UN member states must follow and an obligation that they should fulfill, he stressed.

"As a signatory to the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, the United States is well aware of the historical and legal fact that Taiwan belongs to China, but it seems to have had amnesia and openly challenged the post-war international order," Yang said.

He warned the U.S. that playing the "Taiwan card" to contain China is doomed to fail.