BEIJING, September 5. /TASS/. Taiwan has no legal grounds to have a representation office at the United Nations, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Mao Ning said.

"Since the adoption of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758, China has enjoyed the political, legal and procedural right to be the sole representative of the whole of China, including the island of Taiwan. This means that there can only be one place for a representative from China. Thus, there cannot be two representatives at the UN - neither from two Chinas nor from China and Taiwan," the diplomat stressed.

Earlier, the Taiwanese Foreign Ministry addressed its allies to request that they raise the issue of the island’s accession to the UN at the upcoming General Assembly. According to Deputy Foreign Minister Tien Chung-kwang, Taipei also asked its allies to send a relevant missive to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres with an appeal to give Taiwan a seat at the UN.

The senior Taiwanese diplomat pointed out that UNGA Resolution 2758 (also known as the Resolution on Admitting Peking) does not mention Taiwan and does not give the Chinese authorities the right to represent the island’s 23 million inhabitants at the UN.

Taiwan has been governed by its local administration since 1949 when the remaining Kuomintang forces led by Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) fled to the island after suffering a defeat in China’s civil war. Since then, Taiwan has preserved the flag and some other symbols of the Republic of China that had existed in mainland China before the Communists came to power. Beijing regards the island as one of its provinces.

As the Republic of China, Taiwan was a UN member in 1949-1971. Resolution 2758, adopted in 1971, recognized the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as "the only legitimate representative of China to the United Nations."