| Retrocession Day | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Observed by |  Republic of China |
| Type | Historical, cultural, nationalist |
| Date | 25 October 1945 |
| Frequency | annual |
| Retrocession Day | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 臺灣光復節 | ||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 台湾光复节 | ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Retrocession Day is the annual observance and former public holiday in Taiwan commemorating the end of Japanese rule of Taiwan and Penghu and the claimed return of Taiwan to the Republic of China on 25 October 1945. [1] [2] However,the idea of "Taiwan retrocession" remains in dispute.
Taiwan,then more commonly known to the Western world as "Formosa",became a colony of the Empire of Japan after the Qing dynasty lost the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894 and ceded the island with the 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki. Japanese rule in Taiwan lasted until the end of World War II.
In November 1943,Chiang Kai-shek took part in the Cairo Conference with Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill,who firmly advocated that Japan be required to return all of the territory it had annexed into its empire,including Taiwan and the Penghu (Pescadores) Islands. Article 8 of the Potsdam Declaration,drafted by the United States,United Kingdom,and China in July 1945,reiterated that the provisions of the Cairo Declaration be thoroughly carried out,and the Japanese Instrument of Surrender stated Japan's agreement to the terms of the Potsdam Proclamation.
Under the authorization of American General Douglas MacArthur's General Order No. 1,Chen Yi (Chief Executive of Taiwan Province) was escorted by George H. Kerr to Taiwan to accept the Japanese government's surrender as the Chinese delegate. When the Japanese surrendered at the end of World War II,General Rikichi Andō,governor-general of Taiwan and commander-in-chief of all Japanese forces on the island,signed a receipt of Order No. 1 and handed it over to Governor-General of Taiwan Chen Yi,representing the Republic of China Armed Forces to complete the official turnover in Taipei (known during occupation as Taihoku) on 25 October 1945,at Taipei City Public Auditorium (now Zhongshan Hall). Chen Yi proclaimed that day to be "Retrocession Day" and organized the island into the Taiwan Province of the Republic of China. Chen Yi's unilateral act,however,did not gain agreement from the US and the UK,for both considered Taiwan still under military occupation pending a peace treaty, [3] [4] though the US accepted Chinese authority over Taiwan at the time and viewed the Republic of China as the legal government of China. [5] [6] Taiwan has since been governed by the Government of the Republic of China.
The official position of both the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC) is that Taiwan and Penghu were returned to the Republic of China according to the terms of the 1945 Japanese Instrument of Surrender,which stipulated Japan's compliance with the terms of the Potsdam Declaration. The Potsdam Declaration in turn included the terms of the Cairo Declaration,which required Japan to return all conquered territories to China,including Taiwan and the Pescadores. [7]
The ROC clarified its understanding of the Cairo Declaration in 2014 as a legally binding instrument. [8] Among other things,the clarification listed later treaties and documents that "reaffirmed" aspects of the Cairo Declaration as legally binding,including the Potsdam Proclamation,the Japanese Instrument of Surrender,the Treaty of San Francisco,and the Treaty of Taipei:
The post-war status and jurisdiction over Taiwan and its appertaining islands,including Penghu,was resolved through a series of legal instruments—the Cairo Declaration,the Potsdam Proclamation,the Japanese Instrument of Surrender,the San Francisco Peace Treaty,and the Treaty of Peace between the Republic of China and Japan of 1952. The implementation of the legal obligation to return Taiwan and its appertaining islands (including the Diaoyutai Islands) to the ROC was first stipulated in the Cairo Declaration,and later reaffirmed in the Potsdam Proclamation,the Japanese Instrument of Surrender,the San Francisco Peace Treaty,and the Treaty of Peace between the Republic of China and Japan. The Cairo Declaration is therefore a legally binding instrument with treaty status.
In November 1950,the United States Department of State announced that no formal act restoring sovereignty over Formosa and the Pescadores to China had yet occurred; [9] British officials reiterated this viewpoint in 1955,saying that "The Chinese Nationalists began a military occupation of Formosa and the Pescadores in 1945. However,these areas were under Japanese sovereignty until 1952" and that
[Cairo Declaration] was couched in the form of a statement of intention,and as it was merely a statement of intention,it is merely binding in so far as it states the intent at that time,and therefore it cannot by itself transfer sovereignty. [10]
In March 1961,in a meeting of the House of Councillors of Japan,a councillor of the Japanese Communist Party brought up the notion that Taiwan had been returned to China according to the Cairo Declaration,Potsdam Proclamation,and Japanese Instrument of Surrender. The then-Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs responded that:
It was specified in Potsdam Proclamation that the articles in Cairo Declaration shall be carried out,and in accordance with Japanese Instrument of Surrender we announced that we would comply with Potsdam Proclamation. However,the so-called Japanese Instrument of Surrender possesses the nature of armistice and does not possess the nature of territorial disposition. [11]
In April 1971,the U.S. Department of State spokesman stated in a press release that the US government regarded the status of Taiwan as unsettled,and that Cairo Declaration was a statement of purpose of the Allies and was never formally implemented or executed. [12]
As late as December 2014,the US government still considered Taiwan's status an unsettled issue. [13]
The Taiwan independence movement is a political movement which advocates the formal declaration of an independent and sovereign Taiwanese state,as opposed to Chinese unification or the status quo in Cross-Strait relations.
The history of the island of Taiwan dates back tens of thousands of years to the earliest known evidence of human habitation. The sudden appearance of a culture based on agriculture around 3000 BC is believed to reflect the arrival of the ancestors of today's Taiwanese indigenous peoples. People from China gradually came into contact with Taiwan by the time of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) and Han Chinese people started settling there by the early 17th century. The island became known by the West when Portuguese explorers discovered in 16th century and named it Formosa. Between 1624 and 1662,the south of the island was colonized by the Dutch headquartered in Zeelandia in present-day Anping,Tainan whilst the Spanish built an outpost in the north,which lasted until 1642 when the Spanish fortress in Keelung was seized by the Dutch. These European settlements were followed by an influx of Hoklo and Hakka immigrants from Fujian and Guangdong.
The Potsdam Declaration,or the Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender,was a statement that called for the surrender of all Japanese armed forces during World War II. On July 26,1945,United States President Harry S. Truman,United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston Churchill,and Chairman of China Chiang Kai-shek issued the document,which outlined the terms of surrender for the Empire of Japan,as agreed upon at the Potsdam Conference. The ultimatum stated that,if Japan did not surrender,it would face "prompt and utter destruction."
The Treaty of Shimonoseki,also known as the Treaty of Maguan in China and Treaty of Bakan in the period before and during World War II in Japan,was an unequal treaty signed at the Shunpanrōhotel,Shimonoseki,Japan on April 17,1895,between the Empire of Japan and Qing China,ending the First Sino-Japanese War.
The political status of Taiwan or the Taiwan issue is an ongoing geopolitical dispute about Taiwan,currently controlled by the Republic of China (ROC),that arose in the mid-twentieth century. Originally based in mainland China before and during World War II,the ROC government retreated to Taiwan in 1949 after it was defeated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during the Chinese Civil War and the subsequent establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Since then,the effective jurisdiction of the ROC has been limited to Taiwan,Penghu,Kinmen,Matsu,and smaller islands.
Taiwan Province is a de jure administrative division of the Republic of China (ROC). Provinces remain a titular division as a part of the Constitution of the Republic of China,but are no longer considered to have any administrative function practically.
The Penghu or Pescadores Islands are an archipelago of 90 islands and islets in the Taiwan Strait,located approximately 50 km (31 mi) west of the main island of Taiwan across the Penghu Channel,covering an area of 141 square kilometers (54 sq mi). The archipelago collectively forms Penghu County of Taiwan and is the smallest county of Taiwan. The largest city is Magong,located on the largest island,which is also named Magong.
The Cairo Declaration was the outcome of the Cairo Conference in Cairo,Egypt,on 27 November 1943. President Franklin Roosevelt of the United States,Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom,and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek of the Republic of China were present. The declaration developed ideas from the 1941 Atlantic Charter,which was issued by the Allies of World War II to set goals for the post-war order. The Cairo Communiqué was broadcast through radio on 1 December 1943.
The Treaty of San Francisco,also called the Treaty of Peace with Japan,re-established peaceful relations between Japan and the Allied Powers on behalf of the United Nations by ending the legal state of war,military occupation and providing for redress for hostile actions up to and including World War II. It was signed by 49 nations on 8 September 1951,in San Francisco,California,at the War Memorial Opera House. Italy and China were not invited,the latter due to disagreements on whether the Republic of China or the People's Republic of China represented the Chinese people. Korea was also not invited due to a similar disagreement on whether South Korea or North Korea represented the Korean people.
The Republic of Formosa was a short-lived republic that existed on the island of Taiwan in 1895 between the formal cession of Taiwan by the Qing dynasty of China to the Empire of Japan in the Treaty of Shimonoseki and its being taken over by Japanese troops. The Republic lasted 151 days;it was proclaimed on 23 May 1895 and extinguished on 21 October,when the Republican capital Tainan was taken over by the Japanese. Though sometimes claimed as the first East Asian republic to have been proclaimed,it was predated by the Lanfang Republic in Borneo,established in 1777,as well as by the Republic of Ezo in Japan,established in 1869.
As a result of the surrender and occupation of Japan at the end of World War II,the islands of Taiwan and Penghu were placed under the governance of the Republic of China (ROC),ruled by the Kuomintang (KMT),on 25 October 1945. Following the February 28 massacre in 1947,martial law was declared in 1949 by the Governor of Taiwan,Chen Cheng,and the ROC Ministry of National Defense. Following the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949,the ROC government retreated from the mainland as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China. The KMT retreated to Taiwan and declared Taipei the temporary capital of the ROC. For many years,the ROC and PRC each continued to claim in the diplomatic arena to be the sole legitimate government of "China". In 1971,the United Nations expelled the ROC and replaced it with the PRC.
The Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty,formally the Treaty of Peace between the Republic of China and Japan and commonly known as the Treaty of Taipei,was a peace treaty between Japan and the Republic of China (ROC) signed in Taipei,Taiwan Province on 28 April 1952,and took effect on August 5 the same year,marking the formal end of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945).
The Japanese invasion of Taiwan,also known as Yiwei War in Chinese,was a conflict between the Empire of Japan and the armed forces of the short-lived Republic of Formosa following the Qing dynasty's cession of Taiwan to Japan in April 1895 at the end of the First Sino-Japanese War. The Japanese sought to take control of their new possession,while the Republican forces fought to resist Japanese occupation. The Japanese landed near Keelung on the northern coast of Taiwan on 29 May 1895,and in a five-month campaign swept southwards to Tainan. Although their advance was slowed by guerrilla activity,the Japanese defeated the Formosan forces whenever they attempted to make a stand. The Japanese victory at Baguashan on 27 August,the largest battle ever fought on Taiwanese soil,doomed the Formosan resistance to an early defeat. The fall of Tainan on 21 October ended organised resistance to Japanese occupation,and inaugurated five decades of Japanese rule in Taiwan.
The complex relationship between Japan and Taiwan dates back to 1592 during the Sengoku period of Japan when the Japanese ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi sent an envoy named Harada Magoshichirou to the Takasago Koku. The bilateral trading relations continued through the Dutch colonial rule and the Tungning Kingdom of Taiwan in 17th century before the completion of Japan's Sakoku policy. After the Meiji restoration in latter half of the 19th century,Japan resumed its expansionist ambition upon Taiwan and successfully annexed Taiwan from 1895 to 1945,until the surrender of Japan after World War II. Taiwan was also surrendered by Japan to the Republic of China on 25 October 1945.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Taiwan:
The Theory of the Undetermined Status of Taiwan,also called the Theory of the Undetermined Sovereignty of Taiwan,is one of the theories which describe the island of Taiwan's present legal status.
The Taiwanese Resistance to the Japanese Invasion of 1895 was a conflict between the short-lived Republic of Formosa (Taiwan) and the Empire of Japan. The invasion came shortly after the Qing dynasty's cession of Taiwan to Japan in April 1895 at the end of the First Sino-Japanese War.
Following their defeat in the Chinese Civil War,on December 7,1949,the remnants of the Nationalist government of the Republic of China (ROC),alongside many refugees,retreated to the island of Taiwan (Formosa). The exodus is sometimes called the Great Retreat in Taiwan. The Nationalist Kuomintang party (KMT),its officers,and approximately 2 million ROC troops took part in the retreat,in addition to many civilians and refugees,fleeing the advance of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CCP,who now effectively controlled most of mainland China,spent the subsequent years purging any remnant Nationalist agents in western and southern China,solidifying the rule of the newly established People's Republic of China (PRC).
On 25 October 1945,Japan handed over Taiwan and Penghu to the Republic of China,as a result of the World War II. This marked the end of Japanese rule and the beginning of post-war era of Taiwan. This event was referred to by the Republic of China as the retrocession of Taiwan. The Republic of China government viewed this as the restoration of Chinese administration over Taiwan,following its cession to Japan in 1895 after the Qing dynasty's defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War. Therefore,the event was named "retrocession",a notion that has been controversial since the democratisation of Taiwan in the 1990s. The date of the handover was annually celebrated as the Retrocession Day,a former public holiday in Taiwan from 1946 to 2000.
The sovereignty was Japanese until 1952. The Japanese Treaty came into force, and at that time Formosa was being administered by the Chinese Nationalists, to whom it was entrusted in 1945, as a military occupation.
From the legal standpoint, Taiwan is not part of the Republic of China. Pending a Japanese peace treaty, the island remains occupied territory......neither the US, or any other power, has formally recognized the annexation by China of Taiwan
But in the view of our State Department, no agreement has 'purported to transfer the sovereignty of Formosa to (the Republic of) China.' At the present time, we accept the exercise of Chinese authority over Formosa, and recognize the Government of the Republic of China (the Nationalist Government) as the legal Government of China.
 | Please add Japanese script to this article, where needed. |
The United States has its own "one China" policy (vs. the PRC's "one China" principle) and position on Taiwan's status. Not recognizing the PRC's claim over Taiwan nor Taiwan as a sovereign state, U.S. policy has considered Taiwan's status as unsettled.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)[Quoting from a declassified CIA report on Taiwan written in March 1949] From the legal standpoint, Taiwan is not part of the Republic of China. Pending a Japanese peace treaty, the island remains occupied territory in which the US has proprietary interests.
The above indicated commanders are the only representatives of the Allied Powers empowered to accept surrenders and all surrenders of Japanese Forces shall be made only to them or to their representatives.
After occupying Taiwan in 1945 as a result of Japan's surrender, the Nationalists were defeated on the mainland in 1949, abandoning it to retreat to Taiwan. In that year the PRC was established.
