Editing One China (section)

== Background ==
{{More citations needed|section|date=April 2022}}
{{See also|Political status of Taiwan}}

[[File:China map.png|thumb|upright=1.2|Territory controlled by the [[China|People's Republic of China]] (purple) and the [[Taiwan|Republic of China]] (orange). The size of minor islands has been exaggerated in this map for ease of identification.]]

The [[Dutch Empire|Dutch]] established a colony on Taiwan in 1624 based in present-day [[Tainan]].  Shortly after, the [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] established a colony in Northern Taiwan in 1626, but were driven out by the Dutch in 1642.  It was during this time that large-scale Chinese migration from nearby [[Fujian Province]] began.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Andrade |first1=Tonio |title=How Taiwan Became Chinese - Dutch, Spanish, and Han Colonization in the Seventeenth Century |date=2010 |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |url=http://www.gutenberg-e.org/andrade/andrade06.html |access-date=April 3, 2022 |chapter=6 - The Birth of Co-colonization |quote=most were from Fujian Province in China. ... More and more Chinese colonists arrived from Fujian to exploit the new colony. |archive-date=9 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220809163527/http://www.gutenberg-e.org/andrade/andrade06.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Davidson|first1=James W.|author-link=James W. Davidson|title=The Island of Formosa, Past and Present : history, people, resources, and commercial prospects : tea, camphor, sugar, gold, coal, sulphur, economical plants, and other productions|year=1903|publisher=Macmillan & co.|url=https://archive.org/details/islandofformosap00davi|location=London and New York|ol=6931635M|access-date=22 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150108025015/https://archive.org/details/islandofformosap00davi|archive-date=8 January 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> The Dutch colony was later conquered by [[Zheng Chenggong]] (Koxinga), a [[Ming dynasty|Ming]]-loyalist, in 1662 as the [[Kingdom of Tungning]], before being incorporated by the [[Qing dynasty]] in 1683 as part of Fujian Province.  In 1887, it was officially made a separate [[Fujian-Taiwan Province]].  Taiwan remained a province for eight years until it was ceded to Japan under the [[Treaty of Shimonoseki]] in 1895 following the [[First Sino-Japanese War]].

While Taiwan remained under Japanese control, the Qing dynasty was [[Xinhai Revolution|ousted]] and the [[Beiyang government|First]] and [[Nationalist government|Second]] [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]] (ROC) were established from the Beiyang regime to the  [[Kuomintang]] (KMT) from 1928.  After the conclusion of [[World War II]] in 1945, the Republic of China was given control of Taiwan.<ref>Richard Bush: At Cross Purposes, US-Taiwan Relations since 1942. Published by M.E. Sharpe, Armonk, New York, 2004</ref><ref>[[Alan M. Wachman]]: Why Taiwan?  Geostrategic rationales for China's territorial integrity.  Published by Stanford University Press Stanford, California 2007.</ref><ref>
{{Citation
|url=http://www.taiwanbasic.com/hansard/uk/uk1955as.htm
|title=UK Parliament
|date=4 May 1955
|access-date=23 August 2011
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721183000/http://www.taiwanbasic.com/hansard/uk/uk1955as.htm
|archive-date=21 July 2011
|url-status=live
}}
</ref><ref>
{{Citation
|url=http://www.taiwanbasic.com/congress/crs-sinojapan.htm
|title=Sino-Japanese Relations: Issues for U.S. Policy
|publisher=Congressional Research Service
|date=19 December 2008
|access-date=23 August 2011
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322230426/http://www.taiwanbasic.com/congress/crs-sinojapan.htm
|archive-date=22 March 2012
|url-status=live
}}
</ref><ref>
{{Citation
|url=http://www.taiwanbasic.com/lawjrn/res-cs1.htm
|title=Resolving Cross-Strait Relations Between China and Taiwan
|publisher=American Journal of International Law
|date=July 2000
|access-date=23 August 2011
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721183045/http://www.taiwanbasic.com/lawjrn/res-cs1.htm
|archive-date=21 July 2011
|url-status=live
}}
</ref><ref>
{{Citation
|url=http://www.taiwanbasic.com/state/frus/taiwan/frus1951ar.htm
|title=Foreign Relations of the United States
|publisher=US Dept. of State
|date=3 May 1951
|access-date=23 August 2011
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322230430/http://www.taiwanbasic.com/state/frus/taiwan/frus1951ar.htm
|archive-date=22 March 2012
|url-status=live
}}
</ref> In 1949, after losing control of most of mainland China following the [[Chinese Civil War]], and before the post-war peace treaties had come into effect, the ROC government under the KMT [[Chinese Nationalist Party retreat to Taiwan|withdrew to Taiwan]], and [[Chiang Kai-shek]] declared [[martial law]].

An argument has been made that Japan formally renounced all territorial rights to Taiwan in 1952 in the [[San Francisco Peace Treaty]], but neither in that treaty nor in the peace treaty signed between Japan and China was the territorial sovereignty of Taiwan awarded to the Republic of China.<ref name=":0">
{{Citation
|url=http://www.taiwanbasic.com/nstatus/starr.htm
|title=Starr Memorandum of the Dept. of State
|date=13 July 1971
|access-date=23 August 2011
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721182754/http://www.taiwanbasic.com/nstatus/starr.htm
|archive-date=21 July 2011
|url-status=live
}}
</ref><ref name=":1">
{{cite book
|last=Eisenhower
|first=Dwight D.
|date=1963
|title=Mandate for Change 1953–1956
|url=http://www.taiwanbasic.com/historical/seisen.htm
|publisher=Doubleday & Co., New York
|access-date=3 January 2014
|quote=The Japanese peace treaty of 1951 ended Japanese sovereignty over the islands but did not formally cede them to "China," either Communist or Nationalist.
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140103155850/http://www.taiwanbasic.com/historical/seisen.htm
|archive-date=3 January 2014
|url-status=live
}}
</ref> The treaties left the status of Taiwan—as ruled by the ROC or PRC—[[Deliberate ambiguity|deliberately vague]], and the question of [[Legitimacy (political)|legitimate sovereignty]] over China is why China was not included in the San Francisco Peace Treaty.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> This argument is not accepted by those who view the sovereignty of Taiwan as having been legitimately [[Retrocession Day|returned]] to the Republic of China at the end of the war.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://aao.sinica.edu.tw/download/publication_list/en/109.pdf |title=Disputes over Taiwan Sovereignty and the Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty Since World War II |author=Tzu-Chin Huang |website=Institute of Modern History, Academia sinica |publisher=Central Academic Advisory Committee and Academic Affairs Office |access-date=25 January 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150128114506/http://aao.sinica.edu.tw/download/publication_list/en/109.pdf |archive-date=28 January 2015 }}<br />{{cite book|author=Charles Holcombe|title=A History of East Asia: From the Origins of Civilization to the Twenty-First Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rHeb7wQu0xIC&pg=PA337|year=2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-51595-5|page=337|access-date=23 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200513180545/https://books.google.com/books?id=rHeb7wQu0xIC&pg=PA337|archive-date=13 May 2020|url-status=live}}<br />{{cite book|author=Barbara A. West|title=Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pCiNqFj3MQsC&pg=PA15|date=1 January 2009|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-1913-7|page=15|access-date=23 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160617115200/https://books.google.com/books?id=pCiNqFj3MQsC&pg=PA15|archive-date=17 June 2016|url-status=live}}<br />{{cite book|author=Richard J. Samuels|title=Encyclopedia of United States National Security|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K751AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT705|date=21 December 2005|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-1-4522-6535-3|page=705|access-date=23 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507031015/https://books.google.com/books?id=K751AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT705|archive-date=7 May 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Some argue that the ROC is a government in exile,<ref>
{{Citation
|url=http://www.taiwanbasic.com/lawjrn/onechina-tai2.htm
|title=One-China Policy and Taiwan
|publisher=Fordham International Law Journal
|date=December 2004
|access-date=23 August 2011
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322230435/http://www.taiwanbasic.com/lawjrn/onechina-tai2.htm
|archive-date=22 March 2012
|url-status=live
}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite web
| author = Kerry Dumbaugh (Specialist in Asian Affairs Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division)
| title = Taiwan's Political Status: Historical Background and Ongoing Implications
| publisher = Congressional Research Service
| url = https://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/64794.pdf
| date = 23 February 2006
| access-date = 23 August 2011
| quote = While on October 1, 1949, in Beijing a victorious Mao proclaimed the creation of the People's Republic of China (PRC), Chiang Kai-shek re-established a temporary capital for his government in Taipei, Taiwan, declaring the ROC still to be the legitimate Chinese government-in-exile and vowing that he would "retake the mainland" and drive out communist forces.
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110707230929/http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/64794.pdf
| archive-date = 7 July 2011
| url-status = live
}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite web
| title = Introduction to Sovereignty: A Case Study of Taiwan
| publisher = Stanford University
| url = http://spice.fsi.stanford.edu/catalog/introduction_to_sovereignty_a_case_study_of_taiwan
| year = 2004
| access-date = 23 August 2011
| quote = Enmeshed in a civil war between the Nationalists and the Communists for control of China, Chiang's government mostly ignored Taiwan until 1949, when the Communists won control of the mainland. That year, Chiang's Nationalists fled to Taiwan and established a government-in-exile.
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141107220328/http://spice.fsi.stanford.edu/catalog/introduction_to_sovereignty_a_case_study_of_taiwan/
| archive-date = 7 November 2014
| url-status = live
}}
</ref><ref>
{{Citation|url=http://www.taiwanbasic.com/taiwanus/rocinexile.htm|title=Republic of China government in exile|access-date=23 August 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721183400/http://www.taiwanbasic.com/taiwanus/rocinexile.htm|archive-date=21 July 2011|url-status=live}}
</ref> while others maintain it is a [[rump state]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Problematic Sovereignty: Contested Rules and Political Possibilities|url=https://archive.org/details/problematicsover00kras|url-access=limited|last=Krasner|first=Stephen D.|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2001|pages=[https://archive.org/details/problematicsover00kras/page/n164 148]|quote=For some time the Truman administration had been hoping to distance itself from the rump state on Taiwan and to establish at least a minimal relationship with the newly founded PRC.}}</ref>

The ROC continued to claim itself as the rightful ruler of the entirety of China under the single-party KMT regime, and the PRC made a symmetric claim. In 1971, the [[United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758]] replaced the ROC's seat in the [[United Nations]] with the PRC. From April 30, 1991, the ROC officially recognized the PRC thus abandoning the [[Hallstein Doctrine]], while maintaining the claim of an [[exclusive mandate]] as the legitimate ruler of China.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hernández-Campos |first1=Augusto |editor1-last=Ma |editor1-first=Ying-jeou |title=Chinese (Taiwan) Yearbook of International Law and Affairs, Volume 24 (2006) |date=2008 |publisher=Cameron May Ltd |page=86 |chapter=The Criteria of Statehood in International Law and the Hallstein Doctrine:The Case of the Republic of China on Taiwan |isbn=9789004424968 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x98eEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA86 |access-date=13 April 2023 |archive-date=13 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413153317/https://books.google.com/books?id=x98eEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA86 |url-status=live }}</ref> The ROC transformed into a free and democratic state in the 1990s following decades of martial law with the passage of the [[Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China]].<ref>{{Cite web| url=https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2019/taiwan| title=Taiwan| date=30 January 2019| access-date=18 June 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200123202402/https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2019/taiwan| archive-date=23 January 2020| url-status=live}}</ref>  Afterwards, the legal and [[political status of Taiwan]] has become more contentious, with increasing public expressions in favor of [[Taiwan independence]], which were formerly outlawed.