contact in the areas of science and technology, including military technology. Japan Japan-Taiwan relations are guided by the 1972 Japan-PRC Joint Communique. Japan has maintained non-governmental, working-level relations with Taiwan ever since. Korea The ROC recognised the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea in 1919 and the formal establishment of the First Republic of Korea in 1948 and considers the ROK government as the sole legitimate representative of the Korean Peninsula. Due to its anti-communist stance, the ROC does not recognise the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as a state. On 4 January 1949, the ROC set up an embassy in Myeongdong in Seoul. On 23 August 1992 the ROK severed diplomatic relations with the ROC and then established diplomatic relations with the PRC as part of its Nordpolitik, the last Asian country to switch. In 1991 in the last months of the Cold War, Beijing and Seoul have established ROK and PRC liaisons prior to this and later turned embassies. ROC Premier Lai Ching-te approved a total ban on trade between the ROC and the DPRK in September 2017. Taiwanese businessmen have been accused of selling coal, oil and gas to North Korea, as well as importing North Korean textiles and employing North Koreans in Taiwanese fishing vessels. Malaysia Relations are conducted on an unofficial level. Kuala Lumpur adopted a one-China policy in 1974, recognising the PRC. Malaysia operates a trade centre office in Taipei, and the ROC has an economic and cultural office in Kuala Lumpur. Mongolia Until 1945, Nationalist China claimed sovereignty over Mongolia, but under Soviet pressure and as part of the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance of August 1945, it recognised Mongolian independence. In 1953, due to the deterioration of diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, it revoked this recognition and resumed considering it a part of China.Times, MOI rethinks Mongolia, 20 August 2002, p. 2 . Retrieved 2 June 2009 On 3 October 2002, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recognised Mongolia as an independent country, although no legislative actions were taken to address concerns over its constitutional claims to Mongolia. A Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office was opened in Ulaanbaatar, and Taipei excluded Mongolia from the definition of the "mainland area" for administrative purposes. In 2006, old laws regulating the formation of banners and monasteries in Outer Mongolia were repealed. Offices established to support Taipei's claims over Outer Mongolia, such as