10月25日是台湾光复80周年，刘为民大使在汤加主流媒体“TOT新闻网”发表署名文章《台湾是中国的一部分，历史不容篡改》，驳斥所谓“台湾地位未定”谬论，强调台湾地位早在1945年中国人民抗日战争胜利时就已经解决，联大第2758号决议权威不容挑战，一个中国原则不容撼动。全文如下：

October 25th marks the 80th Anniversary of China’s resumption of the exercise of sovereignty over Taiwan. Recently, the U.S. Department of State and the American Institute in Taiwan have been publicly advocating the fallacy of the "undetermined status of Taiwan", smearing and slandering China’s legitimate actions to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity. These remarks were maliciously misleading international opinion, seriously violating international law and the basic norms of international relations, and sending a severely wrong signal to separatist forces advocating "Taiwan independence".

I. Taiwan is part of China, both de jure and de facto.

Taiwan has been an inalienable part of China's territory since ancient times. In 1895, Japan forced the defeated Qing Dynasty to sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki, ceding Taiwan and the Penghu Islands. The Treaty of Shimonoseki was a treaty of national betrayal and humiliation, but the act of cession itself proves that Taiwan and the Penghu Islands were part of China's territory before 1895. In 1943, the governments of China, the United States, and the United Kingdom issued the Cairo Declaration, explicitly stating that territories stolen by Japan, such as Taiwan and the Penghu Islands, should be restored to China. In 1945, China, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union issued the Potsdam Proclamation, reiterating that the terms of the Cairo Declaration must be implemented. In the same year, Japan signed the instrument of surrender, pledging to faithfully fulfill the obligations set forth in the Potsdam Proclamation. On October 25, 1945, the Chinese government announced the resumption of the exercise of sovereignty over Taiwan and held the Ceremony to Accept Japan's Surrender in the Taiwan province of the China war theater in Taipei. Thus, through a series of instruments with international legal effect, China recovered Taiwan de jure and de facto.

According to the U.N. Charter, China is a founding member of the U.N. and a permanent member of the Security Council. In 1945, when the U.N. was founded, the official name of China was the Republic of China (ROC). In 1949, the Chinese people overthrew the ROC government, renamed the country the People's Republic of China, and established the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China. It was a new government replacing the old one within the same country; and China's sovereignty and inherent territorial boundaries stayed unchanged. Thus, the government of the People's Republic of China naturally and fully enjoys and exercises China's sovereignty, including sovereignty over the Taiwan region; and also naturally represents the whole China in international relations, including enjoying and exercising all the rights of China in the U.N. On October 25, 1971, at the 26th session of the U.N. General Assembly, Resolution 2758 was adopted with an overwhelming majority, which "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 where they unlawfully occupy at the United Nations and in all the organizations related to it." The resolution resolved once and for all the question of the representation of the whole of China, including Taiwan, in the U.N., as a political, legal and procedural issue.  

UNGA Resolution 2758 carries extensive and authoritative legal force, and serves as the authoritative basis for the U.N. and organizations related to it to properly handle the Taiwan question. After the adoption of UNGA Resolution 2758, all official U.N. documents referred to Taiwan as “Taiwan, Province of China.” It was clearly stated in the official legal opinions of the Office of Legal Affairs of the U.N. Secretariat that "the United Nations considers 'Taiwan' as a province of China with no separate status"and the "'authorities' in 'Taipei' are not considered to ... enjoy any form of government status." This has been the consistent position of the U.N. and is clearly documented.

The adoption of Resolution 2758 had a wide-reaching and profound political impact on the practice of international relations. It effectively made the one-China principle a basic norm of international relations and a prevailing consensus in the international community. To date, 183 countries have established and developed diplomatic relations with China on the basis of the one-China principle.

II. The United States Once Explicitly Acknowledged That Taiwan Belongs to China.

On January 5, 1950, U.S. President Harry S. Truman issued a statement on the Taiwan question, explicitly stating that "For the past four years, the United States and other Allied powers have accepted the exercise of Chinese authority over the Island". On the same day, U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson held a press conference to further elaborate on Truman's statement, noting that "The Chinese have administered Formosa (Taiwan) for four years. Neither the United States nor any other ally ever questioned that authority and that occupation. When Formosa was made a province of China, nobody raised any lawyers' doubts about it". However, after the outbreak of the Korean War later that year, the United States, in its pursuit of isolating and containing China, began to grossly interfere in the Taiwan question and propagated the fallacy of the so-called "undetermined status of Taiwan." In 1972, during his visit to China, U.S. President Richard Nixon personally promised Premier Zhou Enlai that the United States would no longer issue statements implying that the status of Taiwan was undetermined. Currently, the U.S. revival of the "undetermined status" theory is tantamount to self-contradiction and a departure from its own historical stance.

III. Behind the "Theory of Taiwan's Undetermined Status" Lies Political Manipulation Rather Than a Juridical Debate.

The intentions behind such manipulation are obvious: first, to internationalize the Taiwan question, turning it from an internal affair of China into an international controversial issue; second, to create an "undetermined issue" to provide false support for "Taiwan independence" separatist forces; third, to take Taiwan as a forward position to build the so-called Indo-Pacific Strategy and form a strategic chain to contain China. On the surface, these practices claim to "support Taiwan's democracy", but in essence, they are pushing Taiwan to the forefront of geopolitical risks.

The harms caused by this theory are extremely serious: first, it undermines the postwar international order. Taiwan's restoration to China is a victorious outcome of WWII and an integral part of the postwar international order; denying this fact is equivalent to denying the entire postwar arrangement. Second, it misleads Taiwan's society, fuels the unrealistic illusions of "Taiwan independence" separatist forces, and creates a false legitimacy for "juridical Taiwan independence".

A more in-depth harm is that the United States, under the pretext of the "Theory of Undetermined Status", is actually pursuing a double standard. When dealing with issues involving other countries' territories, the United States emphasizes the need to respect international law and treaty arrangements; however, on the Taiwan question, it openly repudiates the legal documents it once signed and recognized. This blatant hegemonic logic has greatly damaged the United States' credibility in the international community and also caused a severe impact on the legitimacy of the postwar order.

IV. Regressing in History Is Bound to Fail.

Taiwan is part of China. The status of Taiwan was resolved once and for all when China won the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War in 1945. Taiwan's restoration to China is a victorious outcome of WWII and an integral part of the postwar international order. It is the fruit of victory that the Chinese people, including our compatriots in Taiwan, achieved through arduous struggle and tremendous sacrifice. It shall never be shaken by lies and fallacies made by certain anti-China forces. Despite the fact that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are yet to be completely reunited, China's sovereignty and territory have never been divided and shall never be divided. The status of Taiwan as part of China has never been altered and shall never be altered. The 1.4 billion Chinese people will never accept any attempt to regress in history and split Taiwan from China again. Such attempt will also find no support in the international community. We appreciate Tonga for its long term adherence to one-China principle, and look forward to repudiating the fallacy of the "undetermined status of Taiwan" together.