WUFI calls for re-examination of Retrocession Day

• By Fion Khan / Staff writer, with CNA

• • Add TT as Preferred Source

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Oct. 25 should not only serve as a commemorative day for Chinese regimes, but also a day for Taiwanese to shatter the “two Chinas” lie and reaffirm their right to self-determination, the World United Formosans for Independence (WUFI) said yesterday.

On Oct. 25, 1945, the Republic of China (ROC) accepted Japan’s surrender in Taiwan and called the day “Taiwan Retrocession Day,” claiming that Taiwan was returned to China, it said.

On Oct. 25, 1971, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 2785 which states that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is the only legitimate representative of China at the UN, it said.

The flag of the World United Formosans for Independence is pictured in an undated photograph.

Photo: Screen grab from World United Formosans for Independence’s Facebook page

The two Chinese regimes use the events as basis for claims of sovereignty over Taiwan, WUFI said.

A military surrender and administrative takeover does not equate to a transfer of sovereignty, it said.

The San Francisco treaty, signed in 1951, states that the Japanese government renounces sovereignty over Taiwan and Penghu, but does not specify to whom that sovereignty was to be transferred, it said.

The Treaty of Peace between the Republic of China and Japan, commonly known as the Treaty of Taipei, signed in 1952, also contained no explicit clause transferring sovereignty over Taiwan to the ROC, WUFI said.

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government portrayed the post-World War II takeover as a “retrocession,” using Chinese nationalism to supplant the right of the Taiwanese to determine their own future, it said.

The 228 Incident, the White Terror era and the decades of martial law showed that being taken over by another regime did not equate to freedom for the people, it added.

UN Resolution 2758 addressed the issue of China’s representation at the UN, but it did not mention Taiwan, it said, adding that the resolution does not state that Taiwan is part of the PRC.

The European Parliament in 2024 passed a resolution stating that UN Resolution 2758 “takes no position on Taiwan” and does not have any bearing on Taiwan’s participation in the UN or other international organizations, it said.

The PRC has never governed Taiwan, yet it used its right to represent China to claim sovereignty over Taiwan and block the nation’s international participation, WUFI said.

The two Chinese regimes have competed over which one represents China, and share the belief that Taiwan belongs to China and that Taiwanese have no right to determine the nation’s future, it said.

That is a historical predicament Taiwan must overcome, it added.

Taiwan is neither territory that can be inherited as a byproduct of the two Chinese regimes’ struggle for representation nor property whose fate can be arbitrarily determined by either of them, it said.

Retrocession Day should be re-examined, WUFI said.

The organization called for the rejection of Beijing’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758, efforts to secure Taiwan’s right to participate internationally, and constitutional reform and normalization of the nation through peaceful, democratic means and self-determination.

Administrative takeover is not retrocession and representing China does not mean owning Taiwan, it said, adding that the nation’s future should be decided by Taiwanese.