Global Parliaments Reject UN Resolution 2758, Promoting Substantial Cooperation for Taiwan's Security

Over the past two years, parliaments in multiple countries across Europe, the Americas, and Oceania have successively passed resolutions explicitly opposing the interpretation of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 as a legal basis for Beijing's comprehensive sovereignty over Taiwan. These parliamentary statements are not only a direct response to China's expansion of influence on the international stage under the guise of being the "sole legitimate representative," but also highlight the common stance of Western democratic countries in safeguarding regional security and human rights values. UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 originally recognized the People's Republic of China in 1971 as occupying the seat of the Republic of China (Taiwan) at the United Nations. However, since the resolution's adoption, the international community's interpretation of its specific meaning has remained controversial. Particularly under Beijing's pressure—using the "one China" principle to demand that nations sever diplomatic ties and exclude Taiwan from international organizations—many parliaments have chosen to express their positions through legislation or resolutions, attempting to preserve a certain degree of international space for Taiwan.

In response to this, Luke de Pulford, Executive Director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), pointed out in an exclusive interview with the Central News Agency that parliamentary-level countermeasures are merely the "first step." He emphasized that current international politics no longer fits the Cold War framework of "who represents China" from fifty years ago. Cross-strait confrontation at that time primarily revolved around legitimacy recognition and diplomatic acknowledgement. Today, however, China possesses global influence across multiple fields including economics, technology, and the military, while Taiwan plays a critical role in semiconductors, healthcare, and democratic systems. De Pulford believes that national governments must re-examine their policies toward Taiwan, shifting from mere "non-recognition" or "non-interference" to "substantial cooperation" and "institutional interaction," so as to avoid passively accepting Beijing's unilateral rules in emerging strategic competition.

De Pulford's call echoes IPAC's actions in recent years. Since its establishment in 2020, IPAC has brought together lawmakers from over thirty countries, focusing on issues regarding transparency and regulation concerning China's trade, technology supply chains, human rights, and military expansion. The alliance has not only promoted legislation such as the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act and supply chain resilience measures in the U.S. Congress, but has also initiated investigations in the European Parliament targeting forced labor and technological espionage by China. De Pulford pointed out that if nations stop merely at parliamentary statements, they will fail to form a substantive constraint on Beijing's "one China" policy. Conversely, through multi-layered policy tools—including diplomatic dialogue, economic cooperation, and security agreements—can they secure more concrete participation rights and speaking platforms for Taiwan within the international order.

From Taiwan's perspective, the diplomatic environment in recent years has indeed become more arduous due to Beijing's "severing of diplomatic ties" and "marginalization." Since 2020, Taiwan's diplomatic allies have decreased from 22 to 13, and its participation in international organizations has repeatedly faced obstruction. Despite this, Taiwan has maintained substantive relations with major democratic countries such as the United States, Japan, and Australia through practical cooperation such as "vaccine diplomacy" and "semiconductor supply chains." De Pulford's suggestion is precisely to elevate these practical cooperations into institutional recognition, ensuring that Taiwan is no longer excluded from issues such as global governance, climate change, and public health, thereby enhancing its international legal and political standing.

Finally, de Pulford reminded that in today's globalized world, any single country restricting the participation of others in the name of being the "sole legitimate representative" will ultimately weaken the diversity and resilience of the international system. If nations can discard the outdated mindset of "who represents China" during policymaking and instead adopt "who can contribute in specific fields" as the criterion for judgment, it will help build a more open, inclusive, and flexible international order. For Taiwan, this is not only the expansion of diplomatic space, but also international recognition of its democratic values and technological prowess.