Commemorating Taiwan's restoration and honoring national glory

Editor's note: Han Bing, a special commentator for CGTN, is a researcher at the Institute of Taiwan Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

The restoration of Taiwan is a great historic ambition of the Chinese people in defending national sovereignty and territorial integrity. It is a universally acknowledged fact that Taiwan has belonged to China since ancient times, with a clear historical trajectory and solid legal foundation.

In 1894, Japan launched the First Sino-Japanese War against China. The following year, Japan forced the defeated Qing government to sign the unequal Treaty of Shimonoseki and forcibly occupied Taiwan and the Penghu Islands. Japan's colonial rule over Taiwan lasted half a century and was marked by countless crimes. Sons and daughters of the Chinese nation rose up and waged an unyielding struggle against Japanese colonialists, with many patriotic figures emerging from the resistance.

During the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Communist Party of China explicitly put forward the proposition of recovering Taiwan. More than 50,000 Taiwan compatriots, guided by the patriotic conviction that saving the motherland is a prerequisite for saving Taiwan, traveled to the Chinese mainland one after another to join the whole-nation resistance against Japanese aggression.

In December 1941, the Chinese government issued a declaration of war against Japan, proclaiming that all treaties, conventions, agreements, and contracts regarding relations between China and Japan were hereby abrogated and announcing that China would recover Taiwan and the Penghu Islands.

In December 1943, the governments of China, the United States and the United Kingdom issued the Cairo Declaration, which 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.

In July 1945, China, the United States and the United Kingdom jointly issued the Potsdam Proclamation, which the Soviet Union later joined, reaffirming that "the terms of the Cairo Declaration shall be carried out."

In September of the same year, Japan signed the Instrument of Surrender, pledging to faithfully fulfill the obligations laid down in the Potsdam Proclamation. On October 25 of that year, the Chinese government announced the "resumption of the exercise of sovereignty over Taiwan" and held the "China War Theater Taiwan Province Surrender Acceptance Ceremony" in Taipei. Thus, through a series of international legal instruments, China recovered Taiwan both legally and factually.

The restoration of Taiwan and its return to the motherland constitute a major outcome of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. They form an important part of the post-war international order, underpinned by a rock-solid legal basis and historical facts.

In recent years, for the sake of narrow political self-interest, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities and "Taiwan independence" separatist forces on the island have disregarded historical facts, deliberately downplayed and denied the historical significance of Taiwan's restoration, extensively deleted related content from history textbooks, and erased the heroic deeds of Taiwan compatriots in resisting colonial rule.

Moreover, they have propagated and whitewashed the history of Japanese colonial rule over Taiwan. They have even concocted fallacies such as "the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China are not subordinate to each other," "the People's Republic of China has no right to represent Taiwan," and "Taiwan's restoration has nothing to do with the People's Republic of China," in an attempt to sever historical ties across the Taiwan Strait, construct a "Taiwan independence" historical narrative, and mislead the people on the island.

Such actions by the DPP authorities are not only a betrayal of history but also a desecration of the tremendous sacrifices made by compatriots on both sides of the Strait. They seriously undermine cross-Strait relations, endanger peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, harm the common interests of compatriots on both sides as well as the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation, and are doomed to failure.

Sun Yat-sen, who led the Revolution of 1911, once said, "Unification is the hope of all Chinese people. If China can be unified, all Chinese will enjoy a happy life; if it cannot, all will suffer." The Taiwan question arose from the weakness and chaos of our nation, and it will be resolved as national rejuvenation becomes a reality.

Compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are bound by blood, have shared common sufferings, and face a shared future. Today, we are closer than ever before in history to the goal of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and more capable than ever of safeguarding territorial integrity. We should firmly remember our national history, draw wisdom and strength from the great achievement of Taiwan's restoration, resolutely oppose "Taiwan independence" separatist activities and external interference, and safeguard the common home of the Chinese nation.

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