Editing Political status of Taiwan (section)

== Background ==
{{Main|History of Taiwan}}
[[File:"Japan" with inset map "Formosa and Riu-Kiu Islands" from A Literary and Historical Atlas of Asia, by J.G. Bartholomew. J.M. Dent and Sons, Ltd. 1912.jpg|thumb|right|230px|According to the [[Treaty of Shimonoseki]] Taiwan was part of Japan at the establishment of the ROC in 1912. The PRC (founded 1 October 1949) argues that the Treaty of Shimonoseki was never valid, saying it was one of several [[unequal treaties]] forced upon the Qing.]]
{{Anchor|Cession and retrocession|Cession and Retrocession|Cession, retrocession, legal status, and self-determination|Cession, retrocession, legal status, and self-determination|Cession, retrocession, legal status and self-determination of Taiwan|Cession, retrocession, legal status and self-determination of Taiwan}}

=== Pre-WWII ===
Taiwan (excluding [[Penghu]]) was first populated by [[Austronesian people]]. Chinese people started settling in southern Taiwan by the late 16th century.{{sfn|Knapp|1980|p=10}} The island was partially colonized by the [[Dutch Empire|Dutch]] who arrived in 1623. The Dutch colony was ousted by the [[Kingdom of Tungning]], which lasted from 1661 to 1683, and was the first [[Han Chinese|ethnic Han]] government to rule part of the [[Taiwan (island)|island of Taiwan]]. From 1683, the Qing dynasty ruled much of the western plains of the island [[Taiwan prefecture|as a prefecture]] and in 1875 divided the island into two prefectures, Taiwan and Taipeh. In 1887 the island was [[Taiwan Province#History|made into a separate]] [[Chinese province|province]] to speed up development in this region. In the aftermath of the [[First Sino-Japanese War]], Taiwan and Penghu were ceded by the Qing dynasty to Japan in 1895 under the [[Treaty of Shimonoseki]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Hsieh |first=Pasha L. |date=2009 |title=The Taiwan Question and the One-China Policy: Legal Challenges with Renewed Momentum |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23773999 |journal=Die Friedens-Warte |volume=84 |issue=3 |pages=60–61 |jstor=23773999 |issn=0340-0255 |access-date=20 June 2023 |archive-date=20 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230620175825/https://www.jstor.org/stable/23773999 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Qing dynasty fell in 1912, leaving [[List of warlords and military cliques in the Warlord Era|warlords]] to compete for power and influence in China. The country became more unified during the [[Nanjing decade]], and growing calls to push back against [[Japanese invasion of Manchuria|Japanese aggression]] led to the formation of the [[Second United Front]] before the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Samarani |first1=Guido |last2=De Giorgi |first2=Laura |title=Guomindang (1912–1949) |website=Chinese Studies |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/obo/9780199920082-0138 |date=28 November 2016 |isbn=978-0-19-992008-2 |url=https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199920082/obo-9780199920082-0138.xml}}</ref>

ROC leaders such as [[Sun Yat-sen]] and [[Chiang Kai-shek]] had expressed support for Korea's, Vietnam's, and Taiwan's independence from Japan.<ref name=":3"/> Academics Frank S. T. Hsiao and Lawrence R. Sullivan state that the early [[Chinese Communist Party]] (CCP) viewed Taiwanese at that time as a separate ''[[Minzu (anthropology)|minzu]]'', a term that can refer to people, nation, race, or ethnic group.{{Efn|The CCP leadership considered the Taiwanese people ... a distinct "minzu." To be sure, the exact meaning of the term "minzu" ... is subject to debate.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last1=Hsiao |first1=Frank S. T. |last2=Sullivan |first2=Lawrence R. |date=1979 |title=The Chinese Communist Party and the Status of Taiwan, 1928–1943 |journal=[[Pacific Affairs]] |volume=52 |issue=3 |page=446 |doi=10.2307/2757657 |jstor=2757657}}</ref>}} They theorize that being Chinese hinged on belonging to the same culture, but by then Taiwan had already undergone [[Japanization]].{{Efn|In this sense, peoples whose political links to Chinese culture were severed and, as in Taiwan's case, replaced by an alternative cultural tradition, transmitted through instruction in the Japanese language, ceased to be an integral part of the Chinese nation and emerged as a different "nationality," yet without losing all of their Chinese qualities.<ref name=":2"/>}} In a 1937 interview with [[Edgar Snow]], [[Mao Zedong]] stated "we will extend them (the Koreans) our enthusiastic help in their struggle for independence. The same thing applies for Taiwan."<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=van der Wees |first=Gerrit |date=May 3, 2022 |title=When the CCP Thought Taiwan Should Be Independent |url=https://thediplomat.com/2022/05/when-the-ccp-thought-taiwan-should-be-independent/ |access-date=2023-11-09 |website=[[The Diplomat (magazine)|The Diplomat]] |language=en-US |archive-date=8 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231108053621/https://thediplomat.com/2022/05/when-the-ccp-thought-taiwan-should-be-independent/ |url-status=live }}</ref>{{Efn|Van der Wees references Hsiao and Sullivan as the original source.}} The CCP's stance might have been intended as a temporary measure to build a coalition against the [[Empire of Japan]], which had colonized both Korea and Taiwan.{{Efn|If CCP support for Taiwan's ethnic separateness and political independence was based solely on strategic considerations during a period when all potential allies needed to be drawn into a broad anti-Japanese coalition and under Comintern pressure, then once in power they would naturally assume the role of the protective state and shift to an integrationist policy position.<ref name=":2"/>}} Regardless of its motivation, Mao's 1937 statement does not bind the CCP because the party was not in power.{{Efn|Was this an off-the-cuff statement by Mao ...? Without supporting documentary evidence we cannot prove conclusively that the CCP supported Taiwan independence in the period between 1928 and 1943 ... the CCP is not legally bound by pronouncements made when out of power and over thirty years ago.<ref name=":2"/>}}

=== WWII ===
In 1943 Chiang's Nationalists argued that after the end of the war, Taiwan should be restored to the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]]. The CCP followed suit and considered Taiwan an integral part of China.<ref name=":2"/> Representatives of the United States and the United Kingdom agreed with Chiang at the [[Cairo Conference]] in November, resulting in the [[1943 Cairo Declaration|Cairo Declaration]]. That pledge was confirmed at the [[Potsdam Conference]] in 1945.<ref name=":3" />

=== Post-WWII ===
In 1945 Chinese Nationalists accepted the surrender of the Japanese forces in Taiwan on behalf of the Allied powers, ending [[History of Taiwan#Japanese Empire (1895–1945)|50 years of Japanese rule]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name="britannica">{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-Taiwan | title=Taiwan &#124; History, Flag, Map, Capital, Population, & Facts &#124; Britannica | date=14 June 2024 }}</ref> Confident about their future prospects, they declared Taiwan a province of China again on 26 October 1945.<ref name="Henckaerts1996c"/> However the final legal dispensation awaited a peace treaty and formal ratification.<ref name="britannica"/> 

In 1949, Mao Zedong's forces defeated Chiang Kai-shek's ROC forces in the [[Chinese Civil War]], thus taking control of mainland China and founding the People's Republic of China (PRC). Chiang Kai-shek and his [[Kuomintang]] government [[Kuomintang's retreat to Taiwan|fled to Taiwan]], which was still under ROC control (as the CCP did not have a navy at that time). Tensions often soared in the following decades. The PRC [[Taiwan Strait Crises|shelled offshore islands held by Taiwan]] in the 1950s, and the ROC for a number of years harbored ambitions of recovering the mainland from the CCP.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Chin |first=Josh |date=2022-05-23 |title=China and Taiwan Relations Explained: What's Behind the Divide |language=en-US |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-taiwan-relations-tensions-explained-11653322751 |url-access=subscription |access-date=2023-11-09 |issn=0099-9660 |archive-date=15 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230915070317/https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-taiwan-relations-tensions-explained-11653322751 |url-status=live }}</ref> Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the United Nations and most non-Communist nations still recognized the ROC as the sole government of China. Non-Communist nations referred to the CCP-controlled mainland as "Red China" during this time.{{cn|date=August 2024}}

In 1971, the UN General Assembly [[UN General Assembly Resolution 2758|voted]] to move the "China" [[China and the United Nations|United Nations seat]] from the ROC to the PRC. The United States recognized the Kuomintang government in Taiwan (ROC) as the legitimate representative of all China until 1979.<ref name=":0" /> And the ROC itself claimed to be the sole legitimate representative of all China until 1988.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Bulsara |first=Sanket |date=1995 |title=Out in the Cold: The Politics of Taiwan's Exclusion from the UN |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42761198 |journal=Harvard International Review |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=52–84 |jstor=42761198 |issn=0739-1854 |access-date=20 June 2023 |archive-date=20 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230620161151/https://www.jstor.org/stable/42761198 |url-status=live }}</ref> As of the present, most nations have switched their official diplomatic recognition of "China" to the PRC, though some of these nations have avoided clarifying what territories are meant by "China" in order to associate with both the PRC and ROC. These countries use vague terms such as "respects", "acknowledge", "understand", or "take note of" in regards to the PRC's claim over Taiwan, rather than officially "recognizing" the claim.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Lee|first=Tzu-wen|year=1996|title=The International Legal Status of the Republic of China on Taiwan|journal=UCLA Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs|volume=1|issue=2|pages=351–392|jstor=45302055}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Drun|first=Jessica|date=28 December 2017|title=One China, Multiple Interpretations|url=https://www.ccpwatch.org/single-post/2017/12/29/one-china-multiple-interpretations|website=Center for Advanced China Research|access-date=5 July 2023|archive-date=9 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200309224301/https://www.ccpwatch.org/single-post/2017/12/29/One-China-Multiple-Interpretations|url-status=live}}</ref> From 1988 onwards the Government of Taiwan turned to a [[checkbook diplomacy]] promising economic support in return of diplomatic recognition.<ref name=":0" /> Until 1995, Taiwan was able to establish diplomatic ties with 29 countries.<ref name=":0" /> However this policy was stalled by the PRC as it suspended trade with any country that held diplomatic ties with Taiwan.<ref name=":0" />