TAIPEI, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Taiwanese officials Saturday recognized the independence of Outer Mongolia even though the Taipei government maintains it should represent all of China.

The director of Taiwan's Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Office, Li Hou-kao, said for the first time that Outer Mongolia was already independent and no longer to be claimed by Taipei.

The comment, made at a press conference, could be considered a statement of the obvious to the world's 115 nations that recognize Outer Mongolia, but a significant departure from Taipei's claim to all of China.

Both China and Taiwan have claimed each other's territory since a civil war split them in 1949. Taipei's seat in the United Nations was lost to Beijing in 1971.

"The island's National Assembly does not necessarily have to make a constitutional amendment because Outer Mongolia's independence is well established," Li Hou-kao said.

Taiwan's Nationalist government recognized the results of a Mongolian plebiscite in 1946 calling for independence, but maps printed by the Nationalists after they were ousted from China by the communist in 1949 have included Outer Mongolia.

Taiwan's president Lee Teng-hui sparked heated debate and drew criticism six years ago by saying that Outer Mongolia was already a defacto independent country.

Critics said the statement was an indication that Lee and his government was veering away from its stated goal of eventual reunification with mainland China.

Support for unification with China dropped more than 15 percent in many polls taken after China began a series of threatening military drill near Taiwan last year. Support for reunification among Taiwan's college-age citizens was lowest.