What treaty transferred the territorial sovereignty of Taiwan to China?

Question

All of my Taiwanese friends stress that Taiwan is an independent sovereign nation, and that its official name is "Republic of China." However, I am having a hard time finding the legal reference whereby the territorial sovereignty of Taiwan was transferred to the Republic of China.

In 1895, the Qing Dynasty transferred the territorial sovereignty of Taiwan to Japan. After 1895, Japan exercised sovereignty over Taiwan and held title to Taiwan territory.

However, in the San Francisco Peace Treaty (SFPT) after WWII, it appears that Japan renounced all rights and claims to Taiwan, but no recipient was specified !!!

If anyone can provide the name of the treaty (and the Article number therein) which transferred the territorial sovereignty of Taiwan to China, I would be grateful.

I visited the library for several hours but the reference librarian there was also unable to locate this information for me.

Answer 1

On Sept. 2, 1945, General Douglas MacArthur issued General Order No. 1 directing Chiang Kai-shek of the Republic of China to go to Taiwan to accept the surrender of Japanese troops.

The surrender ceremonies of Oct. 25, 1945, in Taipei marked the beginning of the military occupation of Taiwan. None of the Allies recognized that there was any "transfer of the sovereignty of Taiwan" to China on that date. Indeed, international law does not allow such an interpretation.

Looking at the relevant treaties, two are most important. The relevant articles are discussed below:

* Article 2b of the San Francisco Peace Treaty of April 28, 1952, states: Japan renounces all right, title and claim to Formosa and the Pescadores.

However, no "receiving country" was specified for this territorial cession.

* Article 2 of the Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty of Aug. 5, 1952, states: It is recognised that under Article 2 of the Treaty of Peace which Japan signed at the city of San Francisco on 8 September 1951 (hereinafter referred to as the San Francisco Treaty), Japan has renounced all right, title, and claim to Taiwan (Formosa) and Penghu (the Pescadores) as well as the Spratley Islands and the Paracel Islands.

Basically speaking, this Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty (aka Treaty of Taipei) of Aug. 5, 1952, merely recognizes the legal arrangements previously made in the SFPT.

In summary, there are no treaty provisions which have ever transferred the territorial sovereignty of Taiwan to China.

Answer 2

Japan took Taiwan from China in 1895. It was occupied by by Japan until 1945. In 1949 the Nationalist Government retreated to Taiwan when it abandoned the mainland to the Communist.

Answer 3

US Army General Stilwell took the Japanese surrender on Okinawa and the ROC took their surrender on Taiwan (under watchful eyes of Lt. George Kerr, US Navy). The ROC on Taiwan was never handed over to China...neither China in the SFPT. It is not Japanese because Taiwanese lost their Japanese nationality on April 28, 1952. So who are these stateless people? Not Chinese, not Japanese, what nationality if they are not legal Taiwanese nationality? Okinawans were not "Japanese" under the USA until 1972 reversion back to Japan.

Answer 4

it reverted to the chinese govt in beijing but was never enforced as chiangkaishek refused to acknowledge supremacy of communist china. its a part of history that is absent. usa at that time supported cks. mao didnt disturb the scenario then. mao was busy consolidating his power and hence didnt bother. the cold war allowed the situ to prevail until now. till today, china says taiwan is an integral part of china which is correct

Answer 5

Mel is correct in some people's view. In matter fact, ROC never got the chance take over Communist China. And Chinese suppose to be under the supreme leader of Cash My Check (chiang kai shek). Yes. Beyond the grave!!!

The point and the only point is:

Who would want to be rule by ruthless Chinese government? I am sure Mel should move to China and rule by the supreme leader of China. I am sure he will enjoy it very much.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Peace_Treaty

The document officially renounces Japan's treaty rights derived from the Boxer Protocol of 1901 and its rights to Korea, Formosa (Taiwan), Hong Kong (a British colony), the Kuril Islands, the Pescadores, the Spratly Islands, Antarctica and Sakhalin Island. The treaty does not formally state which nations are sovereign over these areas, an issue that some supporters of Taiwan independence use to justify Taiwanese self-determination according to Article 77b of the Charter of the United Nations, which applies trusteeships to "territories which may be detached from enemy states as a result of the Second World War." However, except for the Ryūkyūs, the areas over which Japan renounced sovereignty were never brought under any formal UN trusteeship arrangement and hence the specifications of Article 77 were not applied.

Article 3 of the treaty formally put the Ryukyu Islands, which included Okinawa and the Amami, Miyako and Yaeyama Islands groups, under U.S. trusteeship. The Amami Islands were eventually ceded back to Japan on December 25, 1953 and in 1969 U.S.-Japan negotiations authorized the transfer of authority over the Ryūkyūs to Japan to be implemented in 1972. In 1972, the United States "reversion" of the Ryūkyūs occurred along with the ceding of control over the nearby (uninhabited) Senkaku Islands - without taking a position on the ultimate sovereignty of the Senkaku Islands, which are claimed by both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan).

By Article 11 Japan accepted the judgments of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and of other Allied War Crimes Courts both within and outside Japan and agreed to carry out the sentences imposed thereby upon Japanese nationals imprisoned in Japan.

The document further set guidelines for repatriation of prisoners of war and renounces future military aggression under the guidelines set by the UN Charter. The document nullifies prior treaties and lays down the framework for Japan's current status of retaining a military that is purely defensive in nature.

There is also some ambiguity as to over which islands Japan has renounced sovereignty. This has led to both the Kuril Island conflict and the Diaoyutai/Senkaku dispute.

Neither the Nationalist Republic of China nor the Communist People's Republic of China were invited to the San Francisco Peace Conference and therefore neither signed this treaty. The Republic of China, however, enacted a separate Treaty of Taipei with Japan in 1952, which acknowledged the terms of the San Francisco Treaty.

Some supporters of Taiwan independence argue that the Treaty of San Francisco justifies Taiwan independence by not explicitly granting Taiwan to either the Republic of China or the People's Republic of China. This legal justification is rejected by both the PRC and ROC governments, both of which base their legal claims on Taiwan on the Instrument of Surrender of Japan which they argue incorporates the Potsdam Declaration and the Cairo Declaration. In addition, in more recent years supporters of Taiwan independence have more often relied on arguments based on self-determination and popular sovereignty and less on purely legal arguments.

The Soviet Union refused to sign the Treaty of San Francisco. No separate peace treaty has been signed with Japan even after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. This has prevented the Russo-Japanese territorial disputes from being resolved.

http://www.uni-erfurt.de/ostasiatische_geschichte/texte/japan/dokumente/19/19510908_treaty.htm

(Well you know the first part! Now the second part)

Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty (Japanese: 日華平和条約, Chinese: 中日和平條約), commonly known as the Treaty of Taipei as it was signed in Taipei, was a peace treaty between Japan and the Republic of China (ROC) concluded on April 28, 1952. This treaty was necessary because neither the Republic of China nor the People's Republic of China were invited to sign the Treaty of San Francisco because of disagreements by other countries of which government was the legitimate government of China with the cause of Chinese civil war. Given the pressure from the United States policy makers, Japan was not hesitate to sign a separate peace treaty with the Republic of China to officially end the war between the two states with the victory of ROC. Although in fact this treaty has no legal connection nor legal binding with the San Francisco Peace Treaty whatsoever, but given the condition that ROC itself was not a participant of San Francisco Peace Treaty due to the resumption of Chinese Civil War after 1945, therefore, objectively, this treaty largely correlates itself to the San Francisco Peace Treaty and in within, particularly, ROC waived service compensation to Japan in this treaty with respect to Article 14 (a) 1 of the San Francisco Treaty. The provisions of which effectively nullified all treaties between China and Japan prior to including the Treaty of Shimonoseki. However, this treaty was later unilaterally nullified by the Government of Japan by recognizing People's Republic of China. Government of Japan respects and understands that Taiwan belongs to People's Republic of China as stated in the Joint Communique between Japan and PRC of 1972.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Taipei