Beijing creates new national observance linking Taiwan to China’s wartime victory

China has designated Oct. 25 as the Commemoration Day of Taiwan’s Restoration, a new national observance intended to reinforce Beijing’s sovereignty claim over the self-ruled island. The measure was approved Friday in Beijing during a session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People’s Congress, which adopted the decision at the close of a five-day meeting.

State media said the move was made in line with the Constitution “to safeguard the achievements of the World Anti-Fascist War and the post-war international order” and “to defend national sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity.” The observance will include nationwide commemorative activities marking the end of Japanese rule in Taiwan in 1945.

Lawmakers said the move underscores China’s position that Taiwan’s postwar transfer from Japan to the Republic of China represented the island’s return to Chinese sovereignty. Shen Chunyao, director of the legislature’s Legislative Affairs Commission, said, “On Oct. 25, 1945, the ceremony to accept Japan’s surrender in the Taiwan Province of the China war theater of the Allied powers was held in Taipei, marking the return of Taiwan and the Penghu Islands to China’s sovereign jurisdiction.”

Oct. 25 commemorates the 1945 handover of Taiwan to the Republic of China following Japan’s surrender, ending five decades of colonial rule. In Taiwan, the same date is observed as Retrocession Day, though it carries different political meaning as the island evolved into a self-governing democracy after the Republic of China government relocated there in 1949.

Beijing’s new commemoration formalizes its position that the 1945 handover established a legal basis for sovereignty over Taiwan, which it considers part of China’s territory. The move follows a period of increased military and diplomatic pressure on Taipei. Chinese state media said related ceremonies will be held nationwide, but did not specify whether it will become a public holiday. Taiwan’s government had yet to issue a statement responding to the move.