Sir, – I read with interest the comments on Taiwan by some readers of The Irish Times (Letters, November 1st) and wish to add the following: There is no denial that China was the first to explore and establish its governance over Taiwan, and for a long period of time in history Taiwan was a part of China’s Fujian province which is across the Taiwan strait.
In 1885, Taiwan became a province of China. In 1895, Taiwan was forced to be ceded to Japan after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895.
After its defeat in the second World War, Japan had to return Taiwan to China, which was then the Republic of China. In 1945, the then ROC, which represented the whole Chinese territory including both the mainland and Taiwan province, became a member of the UN.
In 1949, the then ROC lost the civil war and fled to Taiwan province, but it held the seat of China in the UN until 1971 when Resolution 2758 was adopted. The purpose of the resolution was to decide who should represent China in the UN. It decided that the government of the People’s Republic China should replace the government of ROC to represent China.
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There is no need for the resolution to state that Taiwan is a province of China, as there is no UN Resolution states that Texas is a state of the US or Tipperary is a county of Ireland. Since the adoption of Resolution 2758, the People’s Republic of China has been representing both the mainland and Taiwan province in the UN.
The current situation of Taiwan is a result of China’s civil war, and no wonder until early 1990s, the “consitution” of the Taiwan authority viewed the mainland as well as Taiwan province as its territory, and the “Taiwan Provincial Government of ROC” has been functioning up until 2018 in Taipei and still remains today, though in name.
– Yours, etc,
HUANG HE,
Counsellor,
Chinese Embassy in Ireland,
Dublin 4.