Taiwan

The LDP recognises the reality that Taiwan (The Republic of China) is a free, prosperous and independent country and supports immediate re-establishment of full diplomatic relations and a seat at the UN and in other world organisations.

 中華民國

In 1911, inspired by Dr Sun Yat-sen’s vision of a China as a democratic, prosperous, modern nation-state, the feudal Manchu (Qing) Dynasty was overthrown. In the years that followed, Dr Sun and his Kuomintang movement were instrumental in unifying China into a single country, the Republic of China.

In 1949, following a long civil war in which the Soviet-backed Chinese Communist Party seized power, the government of the Republic of China was forced to retreat to the island of Taiwan while the Communists formed what they called the Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC) on the mainland.

During the Cold War most Western countries continued to recognise the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) as the sole legitimate government of China. However, in the early 1970s following US President Richard Nixon’s overtures to the PRC aimed at splitting them away from the Soviet Union, this situation was overturned and with most countries changing to recognise the Communist government of the PRC instead.

Despite having being one of the founders of the United Nations and originally a permanent member of the Security Council, in 1971 the Republic of China (Taiwan) was displaced from both seats at the UN by the unelected Communist PRC.

Today, despite the fact that Taiwan has evolved to become a vibrant multi-party democratic state with a gross national product exceeding that of most European countries and a population greater than Australia’s, along with most countries in the world, Australia continues to accept Communist China’s fiction that Taiwan is not a country.

Since Gough Whitlam made it Australian Government policy, successive Liberal and Labor Governments have appeased Communist China and not only recognised the unelected Communist government of the PRC, but refused to re-establish formal diplomatic links with Taiwan despite maintaining them with some of the worst regimes in history.

Internationally, the absurd situation in which bankrupt and repressive dictatorships like North Korea and Zimbabwe are allowed representation at the UN, but this is denied to a prosperous and democratic state such as Taiwan, cannot be allowed to continue.

The LDP rejects the hypocrisy of the Liberal and Labor Parties and recognises the reality that Taiwan is a free, prosperous and independent country.

The LDP supports immediate re-establishment of full diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan) and a seat for Taiwan at the UN and in other world organisations.

The LDP supports eventual reunification of the Two Chinas, if the peoples on both sides of the Taiwan Strait agree on such a course and when mainland China once again embraces the democratic vision of the founder of the Chinese Republic.