China designates Oct. 25 as ‘Commemoration Day of Taiwan's Restoration’

ISTANBUL

China's national legislature on Friday designated Oct. 25 as the Commemoration Day of Taiwan's Restoration.

Beijing is planning to organize various commemorative activities to mark the event, according to a decision adopted at the five-day session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC), which opened on Friday, state-run Xinhua News reported.

The decision aims to "safeguard the outcomes of the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War and the post-war international order, to demonstrate the firm will to uphold the one-China principle and defend national sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, and to strengthen the shared national memory of compatriots on both sides," said the communique from the meeting.

After the end of World War II -- which Beijing refers to as "the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War" -- Japan handed over Taiwan and Penghu to China. The Qing government had ceded Taiwan and the Penghu Islands to Japan in 1895, the report added.

“The restoration of Taiwan is ... a compelling proof of the Chinese government's recovery of sovereignty over Taiwan," as well as "part of the historical fact and legal chain that Taiwan is an integral part of China," the decision said.