This article shows that Taiwan was made independent from Japan, and that it did not come under the jurisdiction of the Republic of China (ROC), the PRC, China or any other state. Prior to this, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) had been ordered by Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces General Douglas MacArthur to send his troops to Taiwan to accept Japan's surrender and take military control of Taiwan. The fact that the ROC government was defeated by the Chinese communists does not change Taiwan's status under international law.
This is the history behind Taiwan's status. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government may have blurred Taiwan's international status as an independent sovereignty during its rule, but with the democratic developments that have taken place since the late 1980s -- in particular the power transfer in 2000 -- sovereignty has come to rest with the people of Taiwan. They have since highlighted Taiwan's status ? following World War II, international treaties separated Taiwan from Japan, making it an independent country.
In fact, UN Resolution No. 2758 in 1971 expelled the representatives of Chiang, and not the representatives of Taiwan. When the US ended its diplomatic recognition of the ROC in 1979, it passed the Taiwan Relations Act and continued to sell defensive weapons to Taipei, which implies the international community's view on the status of Taiwan's sovereignty.
The US government has emphasized that its "one China" principle is different from Beijing's and it is obvious that the US does not see Taiwan as a part of China.
The status quo of Taiwan should not only be defined to avoid military conflict in the Taiwan Strait, but also to realize the spirit of the UN Charter and the International Convention on Human Rights which state that all peoples have the right to self-determination.
In the past, China was weaker, so the US was able to adopt an ambiguous strategy. Today, China's military strength and ambition has grown. Hence, clearly defining Taiwan's status quo as an independent sovereignty is the most effective and maybe even the only strategy for the US to prevent a cross-strait war and maintain peace in the Taiwan Strait and the western Pacific.
Translated by Daniel Cheng and Eddy Chang
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