Taiwan Legal: What does the United Nations say about Taiwan?
Date: Thursday, February 13, 2025
Time: 12:30-2:00 pm (Eastern)
Venue: Wilf Hall 3/F conference room and on Zoom
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About the event:
About the event
We continue our “Taiwan Legal” speaker series by examining the United Nations’ position on the legal status of Taiwan. In 1971, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 2758 declaring that the “representatives of the Government of the People’s Republic of China are the only lawful representatives of China to the United Nations,” displacing the Republic of China, which had held the “China” seat since the UN was founded. The PRC argues that this means the Republic of China seated on the island of Taiwan has no independent international legal status and is part of the PRC. Jacques deLisle, a professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania, says this is a misreading of the resolution. He will discuss the background and legal effect of the resolution and why this 54-year-old resolution matters today.
For earlier talks in this series, see Richard Bush on “What does US law say about Taiwan?” (recording here and written excerpts here) and Peter Dutton on “What does international law say about Taiwan?”
About the speaker:
Jacques deLisle is Stephen A. Cozen Professor of Law, professor of political science, and director of the Center for the Study of Contemporary China at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also chair of the Asia Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and president of the American Association of Chinese Studies. His research and teaching focus on contemporary Chinese law and politics, including legal reform and its relationship to economic reform and political change in China, the international status of Taiwan and cross-Strait relations, China’s engagement with the international order, legal and political issues in Hong Kong under Chinese rule, and U.S.-China relations. His writings have appeared in numerous law reviews, foreign affairs, and area studies journals and edited volumes. Some recent publications related to this talk include Why UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 Does Not Establish Beijing’s ‘One China’ Principle: A Legal Perspective (German Marshall Fund of the United States, 2024, co-authored with Bonnie S. Glaser) and Taiwan in the Era of Tsai Ing-wen (Routledge, 2021, editor and contributor).