China has rejected Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te’s claim that Taiwan is a sovereign independent nation, insisting that the island remains an “inalienable part of China’s territory”.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, made the position known on Tuesday during a regular press conference in Beijing while responding to questions on Lai’s remarks concerning United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758.

According to a copy of the press conference speech made available to our correspondent in Abuja by the Chinese Embassy in Nigeria, Lai had reportedly accused China of distorting the meaning of the resolution, arguing that it only concerns the representation of the People’s Republic of China at the United Nations and does not address Taiwan.

But Mao dismissed the claim, saying China’s position on Taiwan was supported by historical and legal instruments, including the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation.

“There is but one China in the world, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory. This is an unshakable fact grounded in both history and law,” Mao said.

She said the Cairo Declaration, issued by China, the United States and the United Kingdom in 1943, explicitly stated that Taiwan, which had been taken by Japan, would be restored to China.

According to her, the Potsdam Proclamation of 1945 reaffirmed that the terms of the Cairo Declaration would be implemented.

“This series of instruments with legal effect under international law has all clearly affirmed China’s sovereignty over Taiwan,” she said.

Mao also cited UNGA Resolution 2758, adopted in 1971, arguing that it reaffirmed the one-China principle and settled the question of China’s representation at the United Nations.

She quoted the resolution as saying it “decides to restore all its rights to the People’s Republic of China and to recognize the representatives of its Government as the only legitimate representatives of China to the United Nations.”

Mao argued that the resolution settled the representation of the whole of China, including Taiwan, at the UN.

“From political, legal and procedural aspects, the resolution resolved once and for all the question of the representation of the whole of China, including Taiwan, in the UN,” she said.

“It made clear that there is only one seat of China in the United Nations, and there is no such thing as ‘two Chinas’ or ‘one China, one Taiwan.’”

The spokesperson further rejected the possibility of Taiwan becoming an independent country, accusing the Lai administration of deliberately distorting the UN resolution in pursuit of what she described as “Taiwan independence”.

“Taiwan has never been a country and will never be a country.

“The Lai Ching-te authorities’ deliberate distortion of UNGA Resolution 2758 once again revealed their separatist nature for ‘Taiwan independence,’ ” she said.

She added that statements from the Taiwanese authorities would not alter what Beijing described as the historical and legal status of Taiwan.

“Their rhetoric will not change the historical and legal fact that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one and the same China, nor will it undermine the international community’s steadfast commitment to one China,” Mao said.

The Taiwan question remains one of the most sensitive issues in China’s foreign relations, with Beijing maintaining that Taiwan is part of China and opposing any move towards formal independence.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry in its briefing, also touched on China’s relations with Japan, Qatar and Nepal, as well as its efforts to expand artificial intelligence capacity-building in developing countries.

On Japan’s recent comments regarding the removal of a monument commemorating victory over Japanese militarism and its position on the “Enemy State Clauses” in the UN Charter, Mao said Japan should address its wartime history appropriately.

“To view and treat history correctly is a key gauge of Japan’s commitment to peaceful development,” she said.

Mao maintained that the clauses, which concern states defeated in the Second World War, remained valid, despite Japan’s argument that they were obsolete.

“The Japanese side should use history as a mirror, make a clean break with militarism, and earn trust from its Asian neighbors and the rest of the world with concrete actions,” she said.

On Qatar, Mao described the country as a strategic partner and said China attached great importance to bilateral relations.

She said Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani was visiting China from September 7 to 8 and had held talks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang.

Mao said Beijing viewed the visit as an opportunity to advance bilateral relations, adding that further details would be released through official readouts.

On artificial intelligence, Mao said China was implementing an initiative announced by President Xi Jinping to provide developing countries with 5,000 opportunities for AI training and seminar programmes over the next five years.

She said China was hosting a Workshop on AI Capacity-Building at Peking University from September 7 to 12 as part of efforts to implement its AI Capacity-Building Action Plan for Good and for All.