MOFA solemnly refutes falsehoods and threatening language used against Taiwan by China’s defense minister at Beijing Xiangshan Forum

MOFA solemnly refutes falsehoods and threatening language used against Taiwan by China's defense minister at Beijing Xiangshan Forum

• Date：2025-09-18
• Data Source：Department of Policy Planning

September 18, 2025

No. 349

China's Defense Minister Dong Jun stated during the Beijing Xiangshan Forum on September 18 that Taiwan's return to China was an important element of the post-World War II international order and that it was an indisputable historical and legal fact that Taiwan was a part of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Stating that the People's Liberation Army had long been a powerful force in defending the unity of the Chinese motherland, he said that it would never allow any Taiwanese secessionist plot to succeed and that it stood ready to thwart external military intervention at any time. China's Taiwan Affairs Office also published similar comments on the same day.

China's fallacies grossly distort the historical facts. Demonstrating once again China's authoritarian nature and its custom of engaging in saber-rattling, such fallacies have a clear impact upon regional peace and stability. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) solemnly refutes them in the strongest possible terms.

Following the conclusion of World War II, the Treaty of San Francisco, which had the force of international law, replaced such political statements as the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation. The treaty did not hand Taiwan over to the PRC, which has never ruled Taiwan.

Starting from the mid-1980s, Taiwan underwent a bottom-up transition of liberalization and democratization, culminating in the completion of its first presidential elections in 1996. Since then, the representatives of the executive and legislative branches of the ROC (Taiwan) government have all been elected by the people of Taiwan, making it the only legitimate administration that effectively governs and represents Taiwan externally. This also established the status quo under which the ROC (Taiwan) and the PRC exist on an equal footing, with neither being subordinate to the other. These are the objective facts.

The ROC (Taiwan) has been through three transfers of governing party-in 2000, 2008, and 2016. These have continued to consolidate Taiwan's democratic system and sense of identity and reflect the Taiwanese people's staunch belief in, and desire to pursue, freedom and democracy.

MOFA solemnly states that neither the ROC (Taiwan) nor the PRC is subordinate to the other and that the PRC has no right to represent Taiwan in the international community. China has recently engaged in widespread and baseless lawfare in a bid to strengthen its claim that the Taiwan issue is an internal matter, as well as alter the regional status quo and rationalize its aggressive actions. This has undermined peace and stability. As a responsible member of the international community, Taiwan will continue to maintain the status quo and encourage partner countries to clearly oppose China's false statements. It will also continue to closely work with like-minded countries to jointly defend peace, stability, and prosperity throughout the region and across the Taiwan Strait. (E)