On Aug. 15, 1945, then-Japanese emperor Hirohito announced his country’s unconditional surrender to the Allied forces. From then until Oct. 25, when then-president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) dispatched then-Taiwan governor Chen Yi (陳儀) to accept the Japanese Instrument of Surrender in Taipei’s Zhongshan Hall on behalf of the Allies, Taiwan was temporarily without a government, but remained in a peaceful and orderly state.
During this 70-day period, some key political decisions were made:
The US Office of Strategic Services — the wartime predecessor to the CIA — sought to gauge the public mood in Taiwan. Part of this process included visits and interviews with prominent civic leaders, including Lin Hsien-tang (林獻堂) and Lin Mo-sei (林茂生). All of those interviewed spoke with one voice: Taiwanese approved of returning to China.
This caused the US to believe that Taiwanese had no desire either for self-determination or for becoming a US protectorate. As a result, the US did not intervene in the Chinese occupation of Taiwan.
However, the pro-China leanings of Taiwan’s civic leaders misled the Allied forces, which misjudged the situation.
Instead of ordering the Japanese troops in Taiwan — like those on the Korean Peninsula south of the 38th parallel and in the Philippines — to surrender to the commander-in-chief of the US Pacific Army, they were allowed to surrender directly to Chiang, as the Allies’ representative.
This decision led to 75 years of ambiguity over Taiwan’s status, the consequences of which continue today. Which country does Taiwan belong to? Is it possible to delineate the boundaries of this nation’s territory?
The ideal time for Taiwanese to achieve self-determination would have been immediately upon Hirohito’s surrender.
Alternatively, prior to the promulgation of the San Francisco Peace Treaty in 1951, Japan could have declared that it was willing to grant self-determination to its former colony.
Unfortunately, none of these options were on offer. The problem was instead kicked into the long grass, as the treaty did not specify which government was to have sovereignty over Taiwan.
The treaty merely said that the US was the “principal occupying power,” but fell short of stating that it exercised sovereignty over Taiwan. The US has never defined its position.
Aside from soliciting the opinions of a handful of civic leaders, the Allies never formally put the question to Taiwanese: How should the future of your homeland be decided?
The Republic of China’s jurisdiction over Taiwan proper and the nation’s outlying islands is a hybrid construction of remnants of World War II in the Pacific and the Chinese Civil War, which ended in 1949.
Although the government is popularly elected and autonomous, there has never been a legal basis for its de facto territorial sovereignty, and it therefore does not possess the right to determine who it belongs to. For 75 years, the fate of Taiwanese has remained undecided.
The Allied forces bear the ultimate responsibility, as they never gave Taiwanese the possibility of self-determination. It is time that Taiwanese demand that the Allied forces give them this chance.
The correct vehicle for appealing for self-determination is not the UN, nor President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration, less still any covetous nation that has designs on annexing Taiwan.
Self-determination can only be granted by the “principal occupying power” and the highest holder of executive power in that nation, the US president.
There is no reason to procrastinate any longer: The White House must grant Taiwanese their long-overdue and deserved right to self-determination.
Joshua Tin is an economist.
Translated by Edward Jones
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