In disregard of China's strong opposition and stern representations, Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi went ahead with the visit to China’s Taiwan region. This reckless move seriously undermines China’s sovereignty, interferes in China’s internal affairs, violates the commitments made by the US side, and jeopardizes peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.

In order to clarify the truth and facts, we will publish a series of “Questions and Answers” to introduce the history of the Taiwan question as well as China’s clear position in a comprehensive manner.

Q1: What's the origin of the Taiwan question?

Taiwan belongs to China since ancient times. The Chinese people were the first to develop Taiwan, and the ancestors of most Taiwan residents today came from the Chinese mainland. Though subjected to colonial rule by foreign powers for some brief periods in the history, Taiwan has been under effective administration of the Chinese government for most of the time.

The last colonial rule of Taiwan was from 1895 to 1945. In April 1895, Japan threatened the government of the Qing Dynasty with force and made it sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki, through which Japan forcibly occupied Taiwan. In July 1937, Japan launched an all-out war of aggression against China. In the Chinese people’s war against Japanese aggression, the Chinese government proclaimed in December 1941 that all treaties, conventions, agreements and contracts concerning relations between China and Japan were abrogated, and that China would recover Taiwan and the Penghu Islands. China’s demand of recovering its territories occupied by Japan won the respect and support of the world’s anti-fascist forces. The Cairo Declaration issued by the governments of China, the United States and Great Britain in December 1943 stated that all territories Japan had stolen from the Chinese, such as Manchuria, Taiwan and the Penghu Islands, shall be restored to China. This provision was confirmed and reiterated in the Potsdam Proclamation issued in July 1945. After Japan’s surrender on October 25 of the same year, the Chinese government resumed the exercise of sovereignty over Taiwan, and held the ceremony to accept Japan’s surrender in Taiwan Province of the China war theater of the Allied powers in Taibei (Taipei). From that point in time forward, China had recovered Taiwan.

Not long after the victory of the war against Japanese aggression, the civil war broke out in China. Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese people overthrew the government of the Republic of China. On October 1, 1949, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was founded, becoming the successor to the Republic of China (1912-1949), and the Central People’s Government became the only legitimate government of the whole of China. The Kuomintang (KMT) retreated to Taiwan after the defeat, and set up a local secessionist regime with the support of external forces until now. The two sides of the Taiwan Straits then fell into a special state of protracted political confrontation, which resulted in the Taiwan Question ever since.

The Taiwan question is an aftermath of China’s civil war and China’s internal affair. Since 1949, although the mainland and Taiwan are yet to be reunified, the sovereignty and territory of China have never been divided and will never be divided, and Taiwan’s status as part of China’s territory has never changed and will never be allowed to change.