On June 29, the Taiwan government refuted recent comments on Taiwan made by Lu Shaye, the Chinese ambassador to France, reiterating that the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other.
On June 26, Lu Shaye, the Chinese ambassador to France, stated at a seminar organized by the French Diplomatic and United Nations Association (FDSC) that the current division between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait is a legacy issue from China’s internal affairs in the 1940s. He claimed that in a certain sense, the “Chinese Civil War has not ended.” He further asserted that the ruling authority in Taiwan is a “rebellious regime” within China’s territory, and that China “has the right to expel this regime” and “reclaim” the governance rights over Taiwan.
Lu Shaye’s remarks provoked strong dissatisfaction from the Taiwan government. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Taiwan issued a statement on June 29 refuting his claims, stating that “all distortions or disregard for Taiwan’s sovereign status will not change the current situation of mutual non-subordination,” and that “maintaining a democratic system and a way of life based on freedom is the consensus of all Taiwanese people, and the future of the Republic of China (Taiwan) is determined by the 23.5 million people of Taiwan.”
In response to this, political commentator Wen Zhao posted on social media platform X, saying, “If the civil war has not ended, shouldn’t the Chinese Communist Party be considered a rebellious regime? The Republic of China has existed since 1912, has been recognized by various countries at that time, and was also a founding member of the United Nations. The issue of who is the rebel can be clarified by considering the chronological order of events.”