China's claim over Taiwan does not support Mao Zedong's view, says ex-Dutch envoy

Reacting to the current stance of the Chinese Communist government, a former Dutch diplomat published a commentary saying the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) position on Taiwan’s status over time has changed drastically, Taiwan News reported. According to the media outlet, the recent commentary published in The Diplomat, Gerrit van der Wees, a former Dutch diplomat, who served in the Dutch government from 1982 through 2005, said the CCP's position has changed. Quoting the former Chinese President, he said earlier China considered Taiwan an "independent state". The reaction came after Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe, who reportedly told US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin last month that "Taiwan is a part of China and no one can change that."

According to Wees, "CCP position towards Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. It is problematic for two reasons. The first is that it lacks a historical basis, and second, it is inconsistent since it is quite a recent position for the CCP to hold." "The CCP of the 1920s actually held the opposite view on Taiwan, recognizing the people of Taiwan as a distinct nation or nationality. The communist leaders described the anti-colonial resistance by the Taiwanese against imperial Japan as a national liberation movement separate from the Chinese revolution," according to the commentary published in The Diplomat. 

Meanwhile, citing Mao Zedong, former President of the People's Republic of China, the former diplomat told American journalist Edgar Snow that "we will extend them (the Koreans) our enthusiastic help in their struggle for independence. The same thing applies to Taiwan." Recently, reacting strongly to an op-ed article published in the Los Angeles Times, written by former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over Taiwan issues, consul General Zhang Ping sent a letter to the publication and reiterated that "Taipei City is an integral part of China".

According to the letter sent to Times, the consulate termed the op-ed will only instigate confrontation between two major countries. Notably, the statement came after Abe mentioned Taiwan and Ukraine in the same breath and said the time had come for the United States to make clear that it would defend Taiwan. The article was published on April 23 in the Los Angeles Times. In the letter, the consulate said that the situations in Taiwan and Ukraine cannot be compared. "Taiwan is an inalienable part of China, where the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government. This One-China Principle is explicitly stated in both joint communiqués for establishing China-U.S. and China-Japan diplomatic ties," read the letter. 

Know more about Taiwan and China's ongoing tension

Taiwan had split from China during the civil war that brought Mao Zedong's Communist Party to power and established the People's Republic of China in 1949. While the Communist Party gained control of the Chinese mainland in 1949, the Kuomintang-ruled government of the erstwhile Republic of China set up its government in Taiwan (officially called the Republic of China). Although the regions have been governed separately for more than seven decades, the Communist Party continues to claim sovereignty over Taiwan. Beijing has, on several occasions, stepped up military exercises around self-ruled Taiwan, which it considers its own territory under the One China policy.

Image: AP