Taiwan: setbacks in “autonomous” international positioning

Serious setbacks have marked the latest attempts by Taiwan’s current leadership to position itself on the international stage as an “autonomous,” i.e., independent from the People’s Republic of China, participant of international relations.

The formation of the “autonomy” component of the Taiwan issue

Since then, the principal component of the Taiwan issue, which constitutes almost the main irritant in the current relations between the two leading world powers, the United States and the People’s Republic of China, has been Taipei’s attempts to more or less openly present itself on the international stage as an actor autonomous from Beijing. These actions are actively encouraged by Washington and its closest allies. Reference is made to the same Resolution 2758, which deprived the “representatives of Chiang Kai-shek” of their seat in the United Nations, but made no mention whatsoever of the “Republic of China”.

For Taipei’s patrons, this serves as grounds to assert that Taiwan, designating itself as the “Republic of China,” retains a place in the United Nations and, consequently, is an independent participant in international relations. As recently as March 2026, at hearings in Congress, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, M. Waltz, presented a similar interpretation of the aforementioned resolution, which was gratefully noted by Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The international legal aspect of the Taiwan issue is compounded by political demonstrations in the media space. Regular visits to the island by members of the legislative bodies of the United States, Japan, European countries (with particularly notable activity from certain Eastern European and Baltic states), as well as Canada, are intended to emphasise the “routine interstate” nature of relations with Taiwan. In the realms of these visits, high-flown........

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