Political status of Taiwan

The surrender of Japan in 1945 brought an end to the Japanese rule of these islands and restored them under Chinese administration as intended by the major Allies of World War II.

The ROC has formal diplomatic relations with only twelve nations but maintains unofficial bilateral ties and membership in international organizations as a non-state entity.

The country became more unified during the Nanjing decade, and growing calls to push back against Japanese aggression led to the formation of the Second United Front before the Second Sino-Japanese War.

[19] 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, a term that can refer to people, nation, race, or ethnic group.

[36] Writing in the American Journal of International Law, professors Jonathan I. Charney and J. R. V. Prescott argued that "none of the post–World War II peace treaties explicitly ceded sovereignty over the covered territories to any specific state or government.

The legality of the Cairo Declaration was not recognized by the deputy prime minister of the United Kingdom, Anthony Eden, in 1955, who said there was a difference of opinion on which Chinese authority to hand it over to.

However Wang notes that this is a weak argument, citing 2 Lassa Oppenheimer, International Law, under the principle of effective occupation and control, if nothing is stipulated on conquered territory in the peace treaty, the possessor may annex it.

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.

[52] 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.

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.

"[55] President Truman later reaffirmed the position "that all questions affecting Formosa be settled by peaceful means as envisaged in the Charter of the United Nations" in his special message to Congress in July 1950.

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.

[citation needed] In addition, the position of the PRC is that the ROC does not meet the fourth criterion of the Montevideo Convention, as it is recognized by only 11 UN member states and has been denied access to international organizations such as the UN.

In the case of the United Kingdom and Canada,[78] bilateral written agreements state that the two respective parties take note of Beijing's position but do not use the word support.

However, Vatican diplomats were engaged in talks with PRC politicians at the time of Pope John Paul II's death, with a view towards improving relations between the two countries.

[88] On 26 April 2007, however, Saint Lucia, which had previously severed ties with the Republic of China following a change of government in December 1996, announced the restoration of formal diplomatic relations with Taipei.

[91] On 4 November 2013, the Government of the Gambia announced its break-up with Taiwan, but the Foreign Affairs Ministry of China denied any ties with this political movement, adding that they were not considering on building a relation with this African nation.

[93] The latest countries to break off formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan were Burkina Faso on 24 May 2018,[94] El Salvador on 21 August 2018,[95] the Solomon Islands and Kiribati in September 2019,[96] Nicaragua on 9 December 2021,[97] Honduras on 26 March 2023,[98] and Nauru on 15 January 2024.

[102] As of 15 January 2024[update], the countries who maintain formal diplomatic relations with the ROC are: The following countries have unofficial economic and cultural relations with the ROC: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China (including Hong Kong and Macau), Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Jordan, South Korea, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Myanmar, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Somaliland, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States (including Guam), and Vietnam.

[citation needed] As of January 2023, fifty-one countries recognise Taiwan as a part of China: Albania, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Bahamas, Belarus, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Costa Rica, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Eritrea, Estonia, France, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lesotho, Lithuania, the Maldives, Moldova, Montenegro, Namibia, Nicaragua, Niger, Niue, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Uganda, and Vietnam.

[132] Zhu says in his speech at MIT University on April 15, 1999, "These raw materials and the components are mainly imported from Japan, [Korea], Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, while the value-added parts in China is very, very insignificant.

In the segment, a brief but comprehensive history of Taiwan is provided with notable points such as occupation by the Dutch, Spanish, Manchu-Qing dynasty, and Japanese; path to becoming a prominent Asian democracy; and the strained relation with modern-day China.

By contrast, the Kuomintang (KMT) and the People First Party (PFP) appear willing to agree to some variation of one China, and observers believed the position of the PRC was designed to sideline Chen until the 2004 presidential election where it was hoped that someone who was more supportive of Chinese unification would come to power.

For example, "If Taiwan's Chen Shui-bian had declared legal independence by a popular referendum, scholars agree that is could have immediately triggered a crisis in China, due to its political sensitivity on the mainland".

This turn of events is either the result of pressure by hawkish, hardline soldiers on moderate, mild-mannered statesmen for a tougher, more aggressive response to Taiwan, or a strong consensus among both civilian and military leaders in the Politburo.

[163][check quotation syntax] The possibility of war, the close geographic proximity of ROC-controlled Taiwan and PRC-controlled mainland China, and the resulting flare-ups that occur every few years, conspire to make this one of the most watched focal points in the Pacific.

These concerns have led to a view in certain quarters that Taiwanese independence, if it is to be implemented, should be attempted as early as possible, while the ROC still has the capacity to defend itself in an all-out military conflict.

The Seventh Fleet, operating primarily out of various bases in Japan, is a powerful naval contingent built upon the world's only permanently forward-deployed aircraft carrier USS George Washington.

Some analysts believed that the PRC could launch preemptive strikes on military bases in Japan to deter US and Japanese forces from coming to the ROC's aid.

Japanese strategic planners also see an independent Taiwan as vital, not only because the ROC controls valuable shipping routes, but also because its capture by PRC would make Japan more vulnerable.