Taiwan says China trying to create legal basis for attack

1/10/2025 17:37

Taiwan's government on Wednesday said China was trying to create the legal basis for a future attack with its "misleading" interpretation of a key U.N. resolution, in an escalating dispute over who has the right to claim sovereignty over the island.



China says that 1971's U.N. resolution 2758, which led to Taiwan's expulsion from the body and Beijing assuming a seat at the U.N., gives international legal backing to its claims over the island, and reiterated that point in a long foreign ministry statement late on Tuesday.



Taiwan, formally called the Republic of China and whose government fled to the island in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong's communists, says that is nonsense given the resolution made no mention of Taiwan and that in any case the People's Republic of China has never ruled the island.



Taiwan's foreign ministry said in a statement that China was "deliberately misleading" the international community with its characterisation of the resolution.

"This aims to create a legal basis for altering the status quo across the Taiwan Strait and for future military assault against Taiwan," it said.