Editing Political status of Taiwan (section)

=== 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"/>}}