China creates Day of Taiwan's Restoration as part of sovereignty claims over island

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BANGKOK (AP) — China said Friday it is creating a new holiday called the Commemoration Day of Taiwan's Restoration, as part of its claims over the self-ruled island.

The standing committee of its rubber-stamp legislature, the National People’s Congress, said the new holiday will mark Oct. 25, the day in 1945 when Taiwan, then a Japanese colony, was handed over to an official of the then-Republic of China.

“Establishing Taiwan Restoration Day and holding commemorative activities at the national level will help highlight the indisputable historical fact that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China,” said Shen Chunyao, director of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

The Republic of China was ruled by the Kuomintang Party, which later fled to the island of Taiwan from China in 1949 after losing in a civil war to the Communist Party. The Communists then established the People’s Republic of China in 1949.

The Kuomintang Party ruled over Taiwan after the civil war, and remains one of two major political parties today.

Oct. 25 is already marked in Taiwan as a national holiday, under the name of Taiwan’s Retrocession Day. Retrocession refers to giving a territory back to a country or government.

China routinely states that Taiwan independence is a “dead end” and that annexation by Beijing is a historical inevitability. China’s military has increased its encircling of Taiwan’s skies and waters in the past few years, holding joint drills with its warships and fighter jets on a near-daily basis near the island.