Editing Political status of Taiwan (section)

=== 1945–present – post-World War II status ===

==== 1947 – 228 Incident ====

When the [[228 Incident]] erupted on 28 February 1947, the U.S. Consulate-General in [[Taipei]] prepared a report in early March, calling for an immediate intervention in the name of the U.S. or the [[United Nations]]. Based on the argument that the Japanese surrender did not formally transfer sovereignty, Taiwan was still legally part of Japan and occupied by the United States (with administrative authority for the occupation delegated to the Chinese Nationalists), and a direct intervention was appropriate for a territory with such status. This proposed intervention, however, was rejected by the U.S. State Department. In a news report on the aftermath of the ''228 Incident'', some Taiwanese residents were reported to be talking of appealing to the United Nations to put the island under an international mandate since China's possession of Taiwan had not been formalized by any international treaties by that time, and the island was therefore still under belligerent occupation.<ref name=NYT033047>{{cite news |title=Formosans' Plea for Red Aid Seen; Harsh Repression of Revolt Is Expected to Increase Efforts to Escape Rule by China |last=Durdin |first=Tillman |date=30 March 1947 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10F1EF63B5F1A7A93C2AA1788D85F438485F9 |access-date=2007-10-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120930071826/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10F1EF63B5F1A7A93C2AA1788D85F438485F9 |archive-date=30 September 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref><!--archived copyvio requote at https://web.archive.org/web/20070306103355/http://228.lomaji.com/news/033047.html-->
They later made a demand for a treaty role to be represented at the forthcoming peace conference in Japan, in the hope of requesting a [[plebiscite]] to determine the island's political future.<ref>{{cite news |title=Formosans Ask Treaty Role |date=5 October 1947 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F5061FFF395E17738DDDAC0894D8415B8788F1D3 |access-date=2007-10-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120930071845/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F5061FFF395E17738DDDAC0894D8415B8788F1D3 |archive-date=30 September 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref><!--archived copyvio requote at https://web.archive.org/web/20070306142800/http://228.lomaji.com/news/100547.html-->

[[File:中華民國第一位民選首都市長吳三連於1951年勝選後 First People-elected Mayor of Taipei, the Capital of TAIWAN.jpg|thumb|Non-partisan Taiwanese political candidate Wu San-lian (2L) celebrated his landslide victory (65.5%) in the first [[Taipei city]] mayoral election in January 1951 with his supporters. [[Taipei]] has been the capital of the [[Republic of China]] since December 1949.]]

==== 1950–1953 – Korean War and U.S. intervention ====
At the start of 1950, [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] [[Harry S. Truman]] appeared to accept the idea that sovereignty over Taiwan was already settled when the [[United States Department of State]] stated that "In keeping with these <nowiki>[Cairo and Potsdam]</nowiki> declarations, Formosa was surrendered to Generalissimo Chiang-Kai Shek, and for the past four years, the United States and Other Allied Powers have accepted the exercise of Chinese authority over the Island."<ref>{{cite report |title=Statement by President Truman |chapter=United States Policy Toward Formosa |series=Department of State Bulletin |date=16 January 1950 |volume=22 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/departmentofstat2250unit#page/78/mode/2up}}</ref>
However, after the outbreak of the [[Korean War]], Truman decided to "neutralize" Taiwan, claiming that it could otherwise trigger another world war. In June 1950, President Truman, who had previously given only passive support to Chiang Kai-shek and was prepared to see Taiwan fall into the hands of the CCP, vowed to stop the spread of communism and sent the [[U.S. Seventh Fleet]] into the [[Taiwan Strait]] to prevent the PRC from attacking Taiwan, but also to prevent the ROC from attacking mainland China. He then declared that "the determination of the future status of Formosa must await the restoration of security in the Pacific, a peace settlement with Japan, or consideration by the United Nations."<ref>{{Citation
|url=http://www.trumanlibrary.org/publicpapers/viewpapers.php?pid=800
|title=Statement by the President on the Situation in Korea
|date=27 June 1950
|publisher=Truman library
|access-date=2007-10-06
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141109112156/http://www.trumanlibrary.org/publicpapers/viewpapers.php?pid=800
|archive-date=9 November 2014
|url-status=live
}}</ref> President Truman later reaffirmed the position "that all questions affecting Formosa be settled by peaceful means as envisaged in the [[United Nations Charter|Charter of the United Nations]]" in his special message to Congress in July 1950.<ref>{{Citation
|url=http://www.trumanlibrary.org/publicpapers/viewpapers.php?pid=822
|title=Special Message to the Congress Reporting on the Situation in Korea
|date=19 July 1950
|access-date=2007-10-06
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927222807/http://www.trumanlibrary.org/publicpapers/viewpapers.php?pid=822
|archive-date=27 September 2007
|url-status=live
}}</ref> The PRC denounced his moves as flagrant interference in the internal affairs of China.

On 8 September 1950, President Truman ordered [[John Foster Dulles]], then Foreign Policy Advisor to the [[U.S. Secretary of State]], to carry out his decision on "neutralizing" Taiwan in drafting the [[Treaty of Peace with Japan]] ([[San Francisco]] Peace Treaty) of 1951. According to [[George H. Kerr]]'s memoir ''[[Formosa Betrayed (1965 book)|Formosa Betrayed]]'', Dulles devised a plan whereby Japan would first merely renounce its sovereignty over Taiwan without a recipient country to allow the sovereignty over Taiwan to be determined together by the United States, the United Kingdom, [[Soviet Union]], and the Republic of China on behalf of other nations on the peace treaty. The question of Taiwan would be taken into the United Nations (of which the ROC was [[China and the United Nations|still part]]) if these four parties could not reach an agreement within one year.{{cn|date=August 2024}}

==== 1952 – Treaty of Peace with Japan (San Francisco) ====

When Japan regained sovereignty over itself in 1952 with the conclusion of the Treaty of Peace with Japan (San Francisco Peace Treaty) with 48 nations, Japan renounced all claims and titles over Taiwan and the Pescadores. Some{{Who|date=April 2025}} claim that Japanese sovereignty only terminated at that point.<ref>{{cite book |title=Mandate for Change 1953–1956 |publisher=Doubleday & Co., New York |last=Eisenhower |first=Dwight D. |page=461 |url=http://www.taiwanbasic.com/nstatus/eisenhower.htm |oclc=2551357 |date=1963 |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. |access-date=2011-07-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308075947/http://www.taiwanbasic.com/nstatus/eisenhower.htm |archive-date=8 March 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Notably absent at the peace conference was the ROC which was expelled from [[mainland China]] in December 1949 as a result of the Chinese Civil War and had retreated to Taiwan. The PRC, which was proclaimed on 1 October 1949, was also not invited. The lack of invitation was probably due to the dispute over which government was the legitimate government of China (which both governments claimed to be); however, [[Cold War]] considerations might have played a part as well.{{Citation needed|date=August 2010}} Some major governments represented in the San Francisco Conference, such as the UK and Soviet Union, had already established relations with the PRC, while others, such as the U.S. and Japan, still held relations with the ROC.{{cn|date=August 2024}}

The UK at that time stated for the record that the San Francisco Peace Treaty "itself does not determine the future of these islands," and therefore, the UK, along with Australia and New Zealand, was happy to sign the peace treaty.<ref name=taipeitimes20070930>{{Citation
|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2007/09/30/2003381074
|title=John Tkacik on Taiwan: Taiwan's status remains 'unsettled'
|date=30 September 2007
|author=John Tkacik
|publisher=Taipei Times
|page=8
|access-date=22 May 2014
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110918112346/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2007/09/30/2003381074
|archive-date=18 September 2011
|url-status=live
}}</ref> One of the major reasons that the delegate from the Soviet Union gave for not signing the treaty was that: "The draft contains only a reference to the renunciation by Japan of its rights to these territories [Taiwan] but intentionally omits any mention of the further fate of these territories."<ref name=taipeitimes20070930 />

Article 25 of this treaty officially stipulated that only the Allied Powers defined in the treaty could benefit from this treaty. China was not listed as one of the Allied Powers; however, article 21 still provided limited benefits from Articles 10 and 14(a)2 for China. Japan's cession of Taiwan is unusual in that no recipient of Taiwan was stated as part of Dulles's plan of "neutralizing" Taiwan. The ROC protested its lack of invitation to the San Francisco Peace conference, to no avail.{{cn|date=August 2024}}

==== 1952 – Treaty of Taipei ====

Subsequently, the Treaty of Taipei was concluded between the ROC and Japan on 28 April 1952 (effective 5 August), where Japan essentially re-affirmed the terms of the San Francisco Peace Treaty and formalized the peace between the ROC and Japan. It also nullified all previous treaties made between China and Japan. Article 10 of the treaty specifies:<blockquote>"For the purposes of the present Treaty, nationals of the Republic of China shall be [[deem (law)|deemed]] to include all the inhabitants and former inhabitants of Taiwan (Formosa) and Penghu (the Pescadores) and their descendants who are of the Chinese nationality in accordance with the laws and regulations which have been or may hereafter be enforced by the Republic of China in Taiwan (Formosa) and Penghu (the Pescadores)."</blockquote> However, the ROC Minister of Foreign Affairs George Kung-ch'ao Yeh told the Legislative Yuan after signing the treaty that: "The delicate international situation makes it that they [Taiwan and Penghu] do not belong to us. Under present circumstances, Japan has no right to transfer [Taiwan] to us; nor can we accept such a transfer from Japan even if she so wishes."<ref name=taipeitimes20070930 /> In July 1971, the U.S. State Department's position was, and remains: "As Taiwan and the Pescadores are not covered by any existing international disposition, sovereignty over the area is an unsettled question subject to future international resolution."<ref name=taipeitimes20070930 />