Editing History of Taiwan (section)

===End of Japanese rule===
{{main|Political Status of Taiwan}}
[[File:Franklin D. Roosevelt, Chiang,Kai Shek, and Churchill in Cairo, Egypt - NARA - 196609.jpg|thumb|300x300px|Generalissimo [[Chiang Kai-shek]], President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], and Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] met at the Cairo Conference in Cairo, 25 November 1943.]]
In 1942, after the United States entered the war against Japan and on the side of China, the Chinese government under the [[Kuomintang]] renounced all treaties signed with Japan and made Taiwan's return to China one of the wartime objectives. In the [[1943 Cairo Declaration|Cairo Declaration]] of 1943, the [[Allies of World War II|Allied Powers]] declared the return of [[Taiwan (island)|Taiwan]] (including the [[Pescadores]]) to the Republic of China. The Cairo Declaration was never signed and is not legally binding. In 1945, Japan surrendered with the signing of the [[Japanese Instrument of Surrender|instrument of surrender]] and ended its rule in Taiwan. The territory was put under the administration of the ROC in 1945 by the [[United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration]].<ref name="unhcr.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,,,TWN,,4954ce6323,0.html |title=UNHCR &#124; Refworld &#124; World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Taiwan: Overview |access-date=2010-03-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728144641/http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,,,TWN,,4954ce6323,0.html |archive-date=2011-07-28 }} UNHCR</ref><ref>{{cite news
|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2013/06/09/2003564336
|title=CIA report shows Taiwan concerns
|work=Taipei Times |date=9 Jun 2013 |page=1 |last=Lowther |first=William
|quote=[Quoting from a declassified CIA report on Taiwan written in March 1949] From the legal standpoint, Taiwan is not part of the Republic of China. Pending a Japanese peace treaty, the island remains occupied territory in which the US has proprietary interests.
|access-date=2015-09-28}}</ref> Japanese forces in China and Taiwan surrendered to [[Chiang Kai-shek]] and on 25 October 1945, Governor-General [[Rikichi Andō]] handed over the administration of Taiwan and Penghu to  [[Chen Yi (Kuomintang)|Chen Yi]].{{sfn|Tsai|2009|p=173}}<ref name ="Henckaerts1996"/> On 26 October, the government of the Republic of China declared that Taiwan had become a province of China, however the Allied Powers did not recognize this unilateral declaration.<ref name="Henckaerts1996c">{{cite book|last=Henckaerts|first=Jean-Marie|title=The international status of Taiwan in the new world order: legal and political considerations|year=1996|publisher=Kluwer Law International|isbn=90-411-0929-3|page=337|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_9kuVIayxDoC&q=cairo+declaration&pg=PA7|quote = p4. "On October 25, 1945, the government of the Republic of China took over Taiwan and the P'eng-hu Islands from the Japanese and on the next day announced that Taiwan had become a province of China."}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | author = [[CIA]] | title = Probable Developments in Taiwan | url = http://www.foia.cia.gov/sites/default/files/document_conversions/89801/DOC_0000258551.pdf | date = 1949-03-14 | pages = 1–3 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141222073143/http://www.foia.cia.gov/sites/default/files/document_conversions/89801/DOC_0000258551.pdf | archive-date = 2014-12-22 | access-date = 2015-03-08 | url-status = live | language = en | quote = From the legal standpoint, Taiwan is not part of the Republic of China. Pending a Japanese peace treaty, the island remains occupied territory......neither the US, or any other power, has formally recognized the annexation by China of Taiwan......}}</ref>

In accordance with the provisions of Article 2 of the [[San Francisco Peace Treaty]], the Japanese formally renounced the territorial sovereignty of Taiwan and Penghu islands.<ref name="unhcr.org"/> The Republic of China and Japan signed the [[Treaty of Taipei]] on April 28, 1952, which some consider to be legal support for the ROC's claim to Taiwan as "de jure" territory. The treaty states that all treaties, conventions, and agreements between China and Japan prior to 9 December 1941 were null and void. This is supported by Japanese court decisions such as in 1956 stating that Taiwan and the Penghu islands came to belong to the ROC on the date the Treaty of Taipei came into force.<ref name="Henckaerts1996">{{cite book|last=Henckaerts|first=Jean-Marie|title=The international status of Taiwan in the new world order: legal and political considerations|year=1996|publisher=Kluwer Law International|isbn=90-411-0929-3|page=337|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_9kuVIayxDoC&q=Formosa+and+the+Pescadores+came+to+belong+to+the+Republic+of+China+1956&pg=PA7|quote = p7. "In any case, there appears to be strong legal ground to support the view that since the entry into force of the 1952 ROC-Japan bilateral peace treaty, Taiwan has become the ''de jure'' territory of the ROC. This interpretation of the legal status of Taiwan is confirmed by several Japanese court decisions. For instance, in the case of ''Japan v. Lai Chin Jung'', decided by the Tokyo High Court on December 24, 1956, it was stated that 'Formosa and the Pescadores came to belong to the Republic of China, at any rate on August 5, 1952, when the [Peace] Treaty between Japan and the Republic of China came into force…'" <br />p8. "the principles of prescription and occupation that may justify the ROC's claim to Taiwan certainly are not applicable to the PRC because the application of these two principles to the Taiwan situation presupposes the validity of the two peace treaties by which Japan renounce its claim to Taiwan and thus makes the island ''terra nullius''." }}</ref> The official position of the [[Government of Japan]] is that Japan did not in the Treaty of Taipei express that Taiwan and Penghu belong to the ROC,<ref>{{lang|ja|[http://kokkai.ndl.go.jp/SENTAKU/syugiin/038/0082/03802020082002a.html 衆議院会議録情報 第038回国会 外務委員会 第2号]. 2 February 1961. p. 23.}} (in Japanese) {{lang|ja|"従って日華条約によりまして日本が台湾及び澎湖島を中華民国に帰属せしめたという意思表示はしていないのでございます。"}}</ref> that the Treaty of Taipei could not make any disposition which is in violation of Japan's renouncing Taiwan and Penghu in the San Francisco Peace Treaty,<ref>{{lang|ja|[http://kokkai.ndl.go.jp/SENTAKU/syugiin/046/0514/04602290514017a.html 衆議院会議録情報 第046回国会 予算委員会 第17号]. 2 February 1964. p. 24.}} (in Japanese) {{lang|ja|"日華条約におきましても、これを、サンフランシスコできめた、日本が放棄したということに反するようなことはできないのであります。"}}</ref> and that the status of Taiwan and Penghu remain to be determined by the Allied Powers in the future.<ref>{{lang|ja|[http://kokkai.ndl.go.jp/SENTAKU/syugiin/046/0082/04602060082001a.html 衆議院会議録情報 第046回国会 外務委員会 第1号]. 6 February 1964. p. 11.}} (in Japanese) {{lang|ja|"台湾の帰属の問題につきましては、御指摘のように、カイロ宣言では、中華民国に返させるというカイロ宣言の当事国の意思の表明がありました。これはポツダム宣言で確認されておりますが、最終的な領有権の問題については、日本の平和条約で、日本から放棄されるだけであって、将来の連合国間の決定にまかされておるというのが連合国の見解でございます。"}}</ref>

Some scholars argue that no post-World War II treaties ceded the territories to any specific state.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.taiwanbasic.com/lawjrn/res-cs2.htm
|title=Resolving Cross-Strait Relations Between China and Taiwan
|author=Jonathan I. Charney and J. R. V. Prescott
|publisher=American Journal of International Law, July 2000
|access-date=2011-01-30}}</ref> According to Taiwan Civil Society, the [[1943 Cairo Declaration|Cairo Declaration]] that had as one of its main clauses the restoration of territories taken from the Chinese by Japan to the Republic of China (Manchuria, Formosa, Pescadores), was not a binding declaration.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.civil-taiwan.org/japansurr.htm
|title=The Japanese Act of Surrender
|publisher=Taiwan Documents Project
|year=2002
|access-date=2010-09-01
}}</ref> The Cairo Declaration was considered outdated by  [[Winston Churchill]] in 1952, who denied that Taiwan was under Chinese sovereignty or that the Chinese Nationalists represented China and that they only occupied Taiwan militarily. It was not recognized by [[Anthony Eden]] in 1955, who said there was a difference of opinion on which Chinese authority to hand it over to.<ref name="Henckaerts1996"/><ref>{{Citation
|url=http://www.taiwanbasic.com/hansard/uk/uk1955as.htm
|title=UK Parliament
|date=4 May 1955
|access-date=2010-02-27}}</ref><ref>{{Citation
|url=https://www.taiwanbasic.com/hansard/uk/uk1955aq.htm
|title=There was no transfer of the sovereignty of Taiwan to China in 1945. 
|date=February 7, 1955 
|access-date=2022-09-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |given=Drew |surname=Middleton |title=Cairo Formosa Declaration Out of Date, Says Churchill |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2 February 1955 |page=1 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1955/02/02/archives/cairo-formosa-declaration-out-of-date-says-churchill-churchill.html |access-date=14 April 2021}}</ref> In 1954 and 1960, the United States denied that the issue of sovereignty over Taiwan and the Penghu islands had been settled, although it accepted that they were under ROC control, the exercise of Chinese authority over Taiwan, and that the ROC was the legal government of China.<ref name="Henckaerts1996b">{{cite book|last=Henckaerts|first=Jean-Marie|title=The international status of Taiwan in the new world order: legal and political considerations|year=1996|publisher=Kluwer Law International|isbn=90-411-0929-3|page=337|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_9kuVIayxDoC&q=effectively+controls&pg=PA7|quote = p5. "The United States position on the status of Taiwan is, as stated by the late Secretary of State Dulles in a press conference held on December 1, 1954, "that technical sovereignty over Formosa [Taiwan] and the Pescadores has never been settled" and that "the future title is not determined by the Japanese peace treaty, nor is it determined by the peace treaty which was concluded between the Republic of China and Japan. On the other hand, the United States also recognizes that the Republic of China "effectively controls" Taiwan and the Pescadores."}}</ref><ref>{{Cite periodical | author = [[Department of State]] |title=News Conference Statements: Purpose of treaty with Republic of China |periodical=Department of State Bulletin |volume=XXXI |issue=807 | page = [https://archive.org/stream/departmentofstat311954unit_0#page/896/mode/2up 896] | publisher = [[United States Government Printing Office]] | location = [[Washington, D.C.]] | date =December 13, 1954 | language = en | quote = The legal position is different, as I think I pointed out in my last press conference, by virtue of the fact that technical sovereignty over Formosa and the Pescadores has never been settled. That is because the Japanese peace treaty merely involves a renunciation by Japan of its right and title to these island. But the future title is not determined by the Japanese peace treaty, nor is it determined by the peace treaty which was concluded between the Republic of China and Japan. Therefore, the juridical status of these islands, Formosa and the Pescadores, is different from the juridical status of the offshore islands which have always been Chinese territory.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = William P. Rogers, Attorney General of the United States, Appellant v. Cheng Fu Sheng and Lin Fu Mei, Appellees, 280 F.2d 663 (D.C. Cir. 1960) | url = https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/280/663/263772/ | date = 1960 | quote = But in the view of our State Department, no agreement has 'purported to transfer the sovereignty of Formosa to (the Republic of) China. At the present time, we accept the exercise of Chinese authority over Formosa, and recognize the Government of the Republic of China (the Nationalist Government) as the legal Government of China.}}</ref>

Scholars and politicians have argued over the international status of Taiwan based on the [[Theory of the Undetermined Status of Taiwan]], with talking points revolving around [[President Truman]]'s statement on the status of Taiwan in 1950, lack of specificity on the transfer of Taiwan in the 1951 San Francisco peace treaty, and the absence of explicit provisions on the return of Taiwan to China in the 1952 Treaty of Taipei. The Theory of the Undetermined Status of Taiwan is supported by some politicians and jurists to this day, such as the [[Government of the United States]] and the Japanese diplomatic circle.<ref name = "Henckaerts undecided view">{{cite book|last=Henckaerts|first=Jean-Marie|title=The international status of Taiwan in the new world order: legal and political considerations|year=1996|publisher=Kluwer Law International|isbn=90-411-0929-3|page=337|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_9kuVIayxDoC&dq=A+minor+issue+pertains+to+whether+the+ROC+controls+Taiwan&pg=PA95|quote = p95. "A minor issue pertains to whether the ROC controls Taiwan. A minority of scholars of scholars and politicians argue that the international status of Taiwan remains ''undecided''... That Taiwan's status is still undetermined is a peculiar argument to forestall PRC's claim over Taiwan. However, it is also an insignificant one, since the ROC can still ascertain its control over Taiwan through the principle of effective control and occupation (for a long period of time)."}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | author = Shirley A. Kan | author2 = Wayne M. Morrison | title = U.S.-Taiwan Relationship: Overview of Policy Issues | url = http://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R41952.pdf | publisher = [[Congressional Research Service]] | location = [[Washington, D.C.]] | date = 11 December 2014 | page = 4 | quote = The United States has its own "one China" policy (vs. the PRC's "one China" principle) and position on Taiwan's status. Not recognizing the PRC's claim over Taiwan nor Taiwan as a sovereign state, U.S. policy has considered Taiwan's status as unsettled.}}</ref><ref name="日本外交界常識">{{cite news | author=曾韋禎 | script-title = zh:台灣主權未定論 許世楷：日本外交界常識 | trans-title = [[Koh Se-kai]]: Theory of the Undetermined Sovereignty of Taiwan Is a General Knowledge in the Japanese Diplomatic Circle | url = http://news.ltn.com.tw/news/focus/paper/300420 | newspaper = [[Liberty Times]] | location = [[Taipei]] | date = 3 May 2009 | access-date = 24 January 2015 | language=zh}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news | author = 林良昇 | script-title = zh:國際法觀點 學者：台灣被中華民國政府佔領70年 | trans-title = ⟨International Law Perspective⟩ Scholar: Taiwan Has Been Occupied by the Government of the Republic of China for 70 Years | url = http://news.ltn.com.tw/news/politics/breakingnews/1485820 | newspaper = [[Liberty Times]] | location = [[Taipei]] | date = 24 October 2015 | access-date = 12 December 2015 | language=zh}}</ref>