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Taiwan has been part of China since ancient times. The Chinese people were the earliest to develop Taiwan. Reference to this effect was found in Linhai Geographic Gazetteer compiled 1700 years ago. This was the world's earliest written account of Taiwan. Expeditions, each numbering more than 10,000 men, were sent to Taiwan by the State of Wu (third century AD) and the Sui Dynasty (seventh century AD). After the early 17th century the Chinese people began to step up the development of Taiwan. Since the Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368) Chinese governments of different periods have set up offices in Taiwan, exercising effective administration over the island.
In the mid-17th century Dutch colonists occupied Taiwan. In 1662 General Zheng Chenggong expelled the Dutch colonists from Taiwan and recovered the island. In 1895, as a result of Chinese defeat in the Sino-Japanese War, the Qing government of China was forced by Japan to sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki, ceding Taiwan and the Penghu Islands to Japan. In July 1937 the Chinese people began waging their War of Resistance against Japan. In its declaration of war against Japan, the Chinese Government proclaimed to the world that all unequal treaties China had earlier signed with Japan had been abrogated and that China would recover Taiwan and the Penghu Islands. In 1945, Japan surrendered and accepted unconditionally the Potsdam Proclamation and Cairo Declaration and returned Taiwan to China.From then on, Taiwan has again become part of China and come back under Chinese sovereignty.
Since 1949, for reasons known to all, Taiwan has been temporarily separated from its motherland. This, however, does not change the fact that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. There is but one China in the world, of which Taiwan is an inalienable part. This is the consensus of all Chinese at home and abroad and has been recognized by the United Nations and the majority of nations in the world. |
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