The Legislative Yuan has passed new legislation adding four national holidays and making Workers’ Day a national holiday for all sectors.
That would create a confusing national identity for Taiwanese and the government.
Taiwan Retrocession Day and the anniversary of the Battle of Guningtou, and Constitution Day are used by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to indoctrinate Taiwanese, feeding them propaganda to make them think they are Chinese. It is the same case for Teachers’ Day, which marks the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius’ (孔子) birthday.
The “retrocession of Taiwan” refers to Japan handing over Taiwan proper and Penghu to the Republic of China (ROC) in 1945. To the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party, it is the only legal basis for the “one China” principle in international law.
On Oct. 25, 1945, the Japanese surrender ceremony took place in Taipei. The ROC’s Taiwan governor-general Chen Yi (陳儀) handed Order No. 1 to General Rikichi Ando, Japan’s last governor-general of Taiwan, saying: “Receiving the territory of Taiwan and the Penghu archipelago.”
After Ando signed the document, Chen delivered a speech proclaiming that Taiwan and the Penghu Islands had rejoined China.
That political show was the so-called “retrocession of Taiwan.” That was not valid in international law. A military occupier does not have the right to hand over the sovereignty of an occupied territory. It is a peace treaty that can determine the sovereignty of an occupied territory after a war. It is the principle of international law.
Ando, as a governor and an army commander, did not have the right to hand over the sovereignty of an occupied territory on behalf of his government.
Then-president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) was aware of the invalidity of the “retrocession of Taiwan.” Therefore, on Jan. 12, 1949, he called then-Taiwan provincial governor Chen Cheng (陳誠) to inform him that until the peace treaty was signed, Taiwan was just a territory under the ROC’s trusteeship.
Most of the Allies, including the US, did not recognize that Japan ceded Taiwan to the ROC. Therefore, on Sept. 8, 1951, the Allies and Japan signed the San Francisco Peace Treaty, which states that “Japan renounces all right, title and claim to Formosa and the Pescadores.”
The statement of the “retrocession of Taiwan” is thus untenable. The “one China” principle that rests its legal basis on that statement is also merely political propaganda.
Designating Retrocession Day as a national holiday by passing new legislation would instill the narrative of “one China” in the general public, reshaping national identity. The international community would also be put under the impression that the Taiwanese government and its people accept the “one China” principle, and China would step up its “united front” efforts by saying that “Taiwan’s restoration to China was a victorious outcome of World War II.”
Hideki Nagayama is the chairman of the Taiwan Research Forum.
Translated by Fion Khan
In the US’ National Security Strategy (NSS) report released last month, US President Donald Trump offered his interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine. The “Trump Corollary,” presented on page 15, is a distinctly aggressive rebranding of the more than 200-year-old foreign policy position. Beyond reasserting the sovereignty of the western hemisphere against foreign intervention, the document centers on energy and strategic assets, and attempts to redraw the map of the geopolitical landscape more broadly. It is clear that Trump no longer sees the western hemisphere as a peaceful backyard, but rather as the frontier of a new Cold War. In particular,
When it became clear that the world was entering a new era with a radical change in the US’ global stance in US President Donald Trump’s second term, many in Taiwan were concerned about what this meant for the nation’s defense against China. Instability and disruption are dangerous. Chaos introduces unknowns. There was a sense that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) might have a point with its tendency not to trust the US. The world order is certainly changing, but concerns about the implications for Taiwan of this disruption left many blind to how the same forces might also weaken
As the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) races toward its 2027 modernization goals, most analysts fixate on ship counts, missile ranges and artificial intelligence. Those metrics matter — but they obscure a deeper vulnerability. The true future of the PLA, and by extension Taiwan’s security, might hinge less on hardware than on whether the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) can preserve ideological loyalty inside its own armed forces. Iran’s 1979 revolution demonstrated how even a technologically advanced military can collapse when the social environment surrounding it shifts. That lesson has renewed relevance as fresh unrest shakes Iran today — and it should
As the new year dawns, Taiwan faces a range of external uncertainties that could impact the safety and prosperity of its people and reverberate in its politics. Here are a few key questions that could spill over into Taiwan in the year ahead. WILL THE AI BUBBLE POP? The global AI boom supported Taiwan’s significant economic expansion in 2025. Taiwan’s economy grew over 7 percent and set records for exports, imports, and trade surplus. There is a brewing debate among investors about whether the AI boom will carry forward into 2026. Skeptics warn that AI-led global equity markets are overvalued and overleveraged
RSS