Existing United States Policy regarding the Taiwan Status Question

The following Executive Branch announcements regarding the Taiwan Status Question are considered to be extremely important:

1.President Truman’s June 27, 1950 statement regarding Taiwan’s undetermined status.

2. President Reagan’s July 14th, 1982 assurances that the United States would not revise the Taiwan Relations Act and would not change its position regarding sovereignty over Taiwan.

3. President Clinton’s June 30, 1998 announcement that “We don’t support independence for Taiwan… or ‘two Chinas’; or ‘one Taiwan, one China’;… and we don’t believe that Taiwan should be a member in any organization for which statehood is a requirement.”

4. Secretary of State Colin Powell’s Oct. 25, 2004 clarification that: “Our policy is clear. There is only one China. Taiwan is not independent. It does not enjoy sovereignty as a nation, and that remains our policy, our firm policy.”

5. National Security Council Senior Director for Asian Affairs Dennis Wilder’s Aug. 30, 2007 observations that “Taiwan, or the Republic of China, is not at this point a state in the international community. The position of the United States government is that the ROC – Republic of China – is an issue undecided, and it has been left undecided, as you know, for many, many years.”

6. Congressional Research Service’s report of July 9, 2007 entitled China/Taiwan: Evolution of the "One China" Policy, confirming that US policy has not recognized the PRC's sovereignty over Taiwan; and the Sept. 5, 2007 statement to the UN that Taiwan is not part of the PRC.

The above six items are of excellent reference value for discussing United States Policy regarding the Taiwan Status Question. For simplicity we may call these the “Six Key Statements.”

Of course, other pronouncements regarding the importance of the Three Joint PRC- USA communiques, the Taiwan Relations Act, and the One China Policy add additional weight to these statements.

All of these Elements are valid portions of current US Executive Branch policy in dealing with the triangular PRC – Taiwan – USA relationship. Additionally, the specifications of the post-war San Francisco Peace Treaty cannot be overlooked.

Historical Development of Taiwan’s Current Legal Status The following brief analysis of the development of Taiwan’s current legal status is believed to be definitive, and corresponds fully to the “Six Key Statements” and other elements of US Executive Branch policy on Taiwan.

a)None of the Allies recognized any transfer of the sovereignty of Taiwan to the ROC on the Oct. 25, 1945 surrender date of Japanese troops in Taiwan, hence there was no “Taiwan Retrocession Day,”

b)The completion of the Oct. 25, 1945 surrender ceremonies only marked the beginning of the military occupation of Taiwan,

c)The USA, as the legal occupier (“principal occupying power”), has delegated the administrative authority for the military occupation of Taiwan to the Chinese Nationalists. This is a principal – agent relationship. United States Military Government (USMG) jurisdiction over Taiwan has begun with the surrender of Japanese troops,

d) The announcement of the mass naturalization of native Taiwanese persons as ROC citizens on Jan. 12, 1946, is illegal under international law,

e) In Article 2(b) of the in the post-war San Francisco Peace Treaty of April 28, 1952, the sovereignty of Taiwan was not awarded to the ROC, however all the Article 2 and Article 3 territories were made subject to final disposition by the USMG,

f) The Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty (Treaty of Taipei) of Aug. 5, 1952 recognized the arrangements of the SFPT in regard to the territorial cession of Taiwan,

g) The territory of Taiwan has never been incorporated into ROC territory via the procedures of Article 4 of the ROC Constitution,

h) Military government continues until legally supplanted, and the US President has never announced the end of USMG jurisdiction over Taiwan,

i) Therefore, and in full cognizance of the above, the United States has never recognized the forcible incorporation of Taiwan into ROC territory.

Conclusion: Taiwan remains as an overseas territory under the jurisdiction of USMG. Hence, as an area under USMG jurisdiction, Taiwan has not reached a “final political status,” and can be said to be “undetermined.”

God bless America, Taiwan, and the whole world! Author: Formosa Nation Legal-strategy Association (FNLA) March 2009 October 2010