(UN)ambiguous Meaning? Cross-Strait Narratives of UN Resolution 2758

Agust Börjesson and Elenor Söderberg

Focus Asia April, 2025

This Focus Asia paper examines China’s and Taiwan’s narratives about UN Resolution 2758 in the context of current cross-strait relations and the global debate surrounding Taiwan’s UN participation. The paper expounds on what UN Resolution 2758 is and in what historical context it was voted on in the 1971 UN General Assembly. It analyzes the international debate that led up to the resolution’s adoption and argues that it had a different meaning to the UN’s voting member-states.

The paper also examines how the PRC’s and Taiwan’s narratives of UN Resolution 2758 has evolved over time. For the PRC, the resolution affirmed its “one China principle” claiming that Taiwan is part of China. Its use has not so much evolved but instead intensified. In Taiwan, the narrative about the resolution evolved as it became a multi-party democracy and is now seen in different terms by Taiwan’s ruling DPP and oppositional KMT. For the DPP, the resolution does not give the PRC the right to represent its citizens in the UN, whereas the KMT is pragmatic towards the PRC and willing to abide by the “1992 Consensus”. The disagreements between the DPP and KMT present a challenge for Taiwan to have a lasting unified narrative on Resolution 2758.

In addition, the growing international push back against the PRC’s narrative of Resolution 2758 could impact Beijing’s “one China principle” and result in an increasingly tough stance from China in response. Due to the ambiguous nature of UN Resolution 2758 and its high relevance to cross-strait relations, it will remain a contentious issue with more global debate to follow.

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