After the Sino-Japanese War of 1937, the Nationalist Government seemed to have some new ideas about Taiwan Province, an island ceded to Japan by the Qing Empire at the end of the 19th century. On April 1, 1938, at the Provisional National Congress of the Chinese Kuomintang, Chairman Chiang Kai-shek mentioned Taiwan Province in his speech entitled "The Anti-Japanese War and the Future of the Party" and said:
Japan has Since the beginning of the Restoration, there has been a consistent plan to invade the mainland. In the past Sino-Japanese War of 1888-1894, he invaded and occupied our Taiwan Province and the Ryukyu Islands. When our Prime Minister was alive, he also formulated revolutionary countermeasures for our party, which was to "restore the high platform and consolidate China" as a sign to all comrades in the party. Because South Korea is originally our dependent country, and Taiwan Province is our Chinese territory. From a topographic point of view, it is the lifeline of our China. China must emphasize real national defense and maintain permanent peace in East Asia, and must not let Korea and Taiwan Province fall into the hands of the Japanese imperialists. Believing that we must regain the independence and freedom of our Taiwanese compatriots in order to consolidate the national defense of the Republic of China and lay the foundation for peace in East Asia.
At that time, the Chinese army tried its best to resist the Japanese army in North and Central China, but the war situation went from bad to worse. In December 1937, the capital Nanjing fell and the Nationalist Government moved to Wuhan. On March 28, 1938, the Nanjing Reform Government was established with the support of Japan. The next day, the Provisional National Congress of the Chinese Kuomintang was held in Wuchang. To avoid Japanese air raids, meetings were held after 8 p.m. Although the meeting lasted only four days, important resolutions such as the establishment of a president, vice-president, and vice-president were passed. Faced with successive defeats in the war, Chiang Kai-shek, from the perspective of national defense, defined Taiwan Province and North Korea as a protective circle or buffer zone to consolidate China and prevent Japanese military aggression.
At the first meeting of the Third National Political Participation Conference in October 1942, political counselor Chen Tingrui and others proposed "requesting the government to strengthen the training of legal talents for future use after recovering the ceded land." proposal. The reasons in the article directly named Taiwan Province, Ryukyu and other places to take back. On November 3, 1942, Song Ziwen, the new foreign minister of the Chinese government, answered reporters' questions at a press conference of the Chongqing International Publicity Office, saying, "China should take back the four northeastern provinces, Taiwan Province and Ryukyu, and North Korea must be independent." This was the first time the government had He made it clear that he wanted to take back Taiwan Province.
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The United States’ international occupation of Taiwan Province and the government’s response
November 4, 1942, "Central Daily News", National The day after the government publicly stated for the first time that it wanted to regain Taiwan Province, it was translated and published for three consecutive days. Published in August 1942 by the Postwar Peace Plan Research Committee, composed of editors from the American magazines "Happiness", "Time", and "Life". Chapter 4 of the book "Pacific Relations" proposes the establishment of a defense zone in the Pacific after the war, and advocates the establishment of an international committee to jointly manage all strongholds in this defense zone, including Taiwan Province. This discussion involves the issue of the ownership of Taiwan Province after the war. There is a view among American people and academic circles that it is different from the Nationalist government's plan to regain Taiwan Province after the war, which has caused a backlash among the domestic people. "Happiness" on January 7, 1943, had an editorial entitled "China must recover Taiwan Province - Taiwan Province is China's old occupied area". In accordance with international law and citing history, "I solemnly declare to the whole world: Taiwan's unforgettable 495 Bay is China's old occupied territory. We cannot see it living abroad, and China must take back this land after the war." Taiwanese people from the motherland also expressed their opposition to this view of the United States. After the publication of "Talks on the Recovery of Taiwan Province", the tenth issue of Ta Kung Pao's monthly magazine the following month published the talks of Foreign Minister Song on territorial issues after World War II, Li Zixiu's rambling narration of the Taiwan Province's recovery movement, and Pan Gongzhan's famous saying "May Taiwan The restoration movement succeeded with the return to the motherland and the mountains." Among them, Wen Li emphasized "Taiwan Province" after the Japanese government declared war on Taiwan Province. The movement to regain Taiwan Province gained a legal basis and was actively carried out under the advocacy of Taiwanese people to separate from the motherland. Taiwan Province's international political theory in the United States will make the movement to restore the province seem like a dream.
At the Cairo Conference in November 1943, the Chinese, American and British allies reached a consensus that Taiwan Province and the Penghu Islands would be returned to the Republic of China after World War II. In the process of revising the text of the communiqué after the meeting, regarding Taiwan Province, China advocated that "of course it should be returned to China", while the United Kingdom demanded that it be changed to "of course it must be given up by Japan." The Chinese and British representatives each held their own opinions. The Chinese representative Wang Chonghui said: "In your opinion, it goes without saying that it should belong to China, but foreigners have all kinds of bizarre remarks and opinions about Northeast China, Taiwan Province and other places. I think You should also be aware of them. All allies have their own positions and intentions, and various opinions and opinions arise naturally. Questions raised by the Counselor's Office of the Nationalist Government's Military Commission to the Chinese side at the relevant meeting of Chairman Chiang Kai-shek before the Cairo meeting. The draft lists four items that Japan should return to China after the war: Port Arthur and Dalian, the South Manchuria Railway and the China Eastern Railway, Taiwan Province and the Penghu Islands, and the Ryukyu Islands. The first three items indicate that Japan should return them to China without compensation, while the Ryukyu Islands may be transferred. It may be designated as a demilitarized area under international management. On the issue of Hong Kong and Kowloon, Hong Kong is regarded as a ceded territory and Kowloon is regarded as a leased territory. However, the British side regards Hong Kong and Kowloon as the same issue and should be resolved later.
It can be seen from the above-mentioned assumptions made by China before the meeting that due to the different interests of the Allies, the Chinese government has different assumptions on how to deal with Taiwan Province, Ryukyu and Hong Kong, which are also recognized as ceded territories after the war. After the Cairo Conference, when Chiang Kai-shek reported the Cairo Conference to the Supreme National Defense Committee, he said to Taiwan Province and Ryukyu:
As for the Ryukyu, Taiwan Province, and Penghu issues, I explained to the United States before I went there that Ryukyu was originally It is ours. It is an important military stronghold in the Pacific and requires special attention from the United States. At the Cairo Conference, if we insisted, the United States would not go to war with us; but after we came, first, we did not have a navy, that is, within 20 to 30 years after the war, we could not do anything at sea; second, It aroused the suspicion of Britain and the United States; so we don’t have to be too determined to take back Ryukyu. But since Ryukyu is an important military stronghold in the Pacific, we can't help but wonder. No matter what, Japan cannot be allowed to occupy it. As for Taiwan Province and Penghu, the situation is different from Ryukyu. Taiwan Province and Penghu were occupied by Japan in 1895, and Ryukyu was occupied by Japan before 1895. So we don’t need to take back Ryukyu, but Taiwan Province and Penghu have decided to take it back.
Chiang Zhongzheng hoped to take back Taiwan Province, which was ceded to Japan in 1895, but did not insist on taking back Ryukyu, which was occupied by Japan before 1895. The standards and reasons for recovering Ryukyu are inconsistent. In fact, it is because Ryukyu is not a territory under the jurisdiction of China, but only a vassal state of the former Qing Dynasty. China's takeover of Ryukyu is contrary to the spirit of the Cairo Conference Declaration. It has no intention of territorial expansion and may not be realized in reality. Although the United States agreed to return Taiwan Province and the Penghu Islands to the Republic of China after the war, Taiwan Province, which belongs to the Pacific Theater, is still a target for the US military to capture. Based on the negotiations at the Cairo Conference, there are three principles for the temporary administration of Japan's occupied territories and United Nations territories:
When enemy land is occupied, the occupying forces shall temporarily assume military and administrative responsibilities. But if the occupying force is not a joint force of China, Britain, and the United States, a joint agency should be organized on political issues in the region, and among the three countries, countries without military participation should also send personnel to participate in control.
When the territories of China, Britain and the United States are recovered, the occupying forces will temporarily assume military responsibility. The original suzerain country will be responsible for the management of the land. Matters related to each other will be negotiated between the occupying forces and the administrative agencies.
When other United Nations territories are recovered, the occupying force temporarily assumes military responsibility and the original administering power assumes administrative responsibility, but is still subject to the occupation military agencies.
Although the post-war government obtained a commitment from the Allied Powers to take back Taiwan Province, as Chiang Kai-shek promised, "China does not have a navy." Coupled with the situation at the time, it was difficult for the government to directly use force to take back Taiwan Province. Once the US military lands and occupies Taiwan Province, according to the above-mentioned coordination principles, no matter whether enemy land or territory is recovered in Taiwan Province, China will at least still have the opportunity and power to carry out administrative management, or may be able to avoid international political control. In view of the above principles, the Taiwan Study Group established by the U.S. Navy recommended that the U.S. military must reach an agreement with the Nationalist Government before landing in Taiwan Province: after the U.S. military lands, the U.S. military and political management of Taiwan Province will be maintained alone until Japan surrenders and the post-war settlement is reached; Obviously, despite the consultations and political consensus of the Cairo Conference, the US military has not given up its intention to actually occupy Taiwan Province first.
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The National Government’s postwar planning for the military occupation of Taiwan Province
On August 15, 1945, Japan’s Hirohito announced his acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration of Surrender. After the Nationalist Government received the news of Japan's surrender, Chiang Kai-shek immediately called General Okamura Yoshiji, the top commander of the Japanese army in China, with the title of Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese Theater, instructing him on the six principles of surrender, demanding the implementation of Chiang Kai-shek's instructions, and promptly giving Reply, but Okamura Neji did not reply. It was not until August 17 that U.S. President Truman approved "Directive No. 1." "Ningji Okamura replied that Chiang Kai-shek's General Order No. 1 was given by MacArthur to Emperor Showa of Japan to order the Japanese army to execute it. Before Showa issued the order, although it was known that the Japanese army had been defeated, it was still necessary to Waiting for instructions on who to surrender and how to surrender. Takeo Imai, the representative of Okamura Neiji, also said when meeting with Qin Ying’s representative Xiao Yisu: “I am here purely to perform a liaison mission. The Emperor of Japan had accepted the Potsdam Declaration, and Japanese representatives had now agreed with the Supreme Allied Commander at Maniche on a supreme principled reply. Therefore, before receiving the highest order, the Japanese army cannot casually lol Xin Zhao in the jungle. Subsequently, He Qinying assigned experts from China and the United States to ask Imai Takeo various questions. He Zai said in the submission: "In the Japanese military system, Taiwan Province and Vietnam have their own supreme commanders, and the navy is not under the command of the army. Now Okamura only represents the army in China, and for the navy and Vietnam army of Taiwan Province, It is said that it is difficult to implement, but it is not impossible. On August 18, the day after the issuance of General Order No. 1, the Nationalist Government headed by President Xi Jinping immediately issued an order in charge of the surrender of all enemies in the Chinese theater and stipulated that. All theater or front-line troops in the Chinese theater surrendered, but the surrendering commander in Taiwan Province was not announced. On August 21, the Chinese Army General Headquarters issued Memorandum No. 1 to the top Japanese commander in China, Okamura Yoshiji, notifying Taiwan. The province was an area accepted by China. The next day, Memorandum No. 2 informed the Chinese theater commander that they were stationed at the forward command post and stationed in the surrender areas including Hanoi, Vietnam, but there was still no information about the surrender of Taiwan Province in the text.
Until August 26, Memorandum No. 12 of the Chinese Army General Headquarters stipulated: "The Commander-in-Chief of India is ordered to accept the surrender of the Japanese army, navy, air force and auxiliary forces in the Penghu Islands, and the Japanese troops in this area shall also be commanded by your officers to surrender to this Commander-in-Chief." Commander surrendered. “The Nationalist Government has not yet arranged for the surrender of Taiwan Province.
On August 27, the National Government announced that former Taiwan Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Chen Yi was the Chief Executive of Taiwan Province. The "Organizational Outline of the Office of the Chief Executive of Taiwan Province" was submitted to the Executive Yuan for approval the next day, indicating that The National Government's administration of Taiwan Province is ready. On September 3, Chen Yi was appointed commander-in-chief of Taiwan Province and Penghu Island. The surrender of the regional commander included the military takeover and occupation of the area. The issue mentioned earlier that the Japanese troops in Taiwan Province were not within the jurisdiction of the Japanese troops in China was resolved on August 30. In , the Japanese army was placed under the control of Okamura Neiji, the supreme commander of the Japanese army in China, marking the surrender and military takeover of the Japanese army in Taiwan Province. The Nationalist Government could command the Japanese troops in Taiwan through Toshiyoshi Ando, ??the commander of the Japanese troops in Taiwan under the control of Okamura Neji. From another perspective, Taiwan Province was transferred from the Pacific Theater.
Military occupation of Taiwan Province requires troops to cross the sea and land in Taiwan. The problem of military transport involves transport vehicles. Crossing the sea requires ship transportation, and the National Government needs the assistance of the US military. On August 29, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the military command to draw up a transportation plan for dispatching troops from Taiwan Province and Northeast China. Obviously, the Nationalist Government did not have the idea of ????direct military takeover of Taiwan Province before. This also shows that since the Taiwan Dispatch Committee, the Nationalist Government did not have a complete plan for the military takeover of Taiwan.
On September 4, the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government appointed Chen Yi as the Commander-in-Chief of Taiwan Provincial Security and ordered him to command the 62nd Army, 70th Army, 208th Division, 209th Division, and the 1st Military Police Regiment. It also issued the "Outline of the Taiwan Province Recovery Plan" to carry out all-round tasks such as surrender, reception, and guarding of Taiwan Province and the Penghu Islands. So far, Chen Yi has served.
After Taiwan Province was ceded to Japan in 1895, before 1937, the Republic of China regarded Taiwan Province as Japanese territory and established official representative offices abroad. After the Luqiao Incident, the Nationalist Government began to have different ideas about Taiwan Province. At the end of 1941, the United States declared war on Japan. The United States recognizes Taiwan Province's strategic position in the Western Pacific. In 1942, the US military began to study Taiwan Province and completed a memorandum advocating international control of Taiwan Province after the war. In addition, the American people also proposed the internationalization of Taiwan Province's government, which aroused Taiwanese people's backlash against China's motherland. It shows that in the early days of World War II, the United States had different ideas from the Nationalist government about the postwar future of Taiwan Province.
Although the Chinese government won the Allied Powers' commitment to regain Taiwan Province after the war at the Cairo Conference, due to practical conditions, it is difficult for the Chinese government to directly regain Taiwan by force. The idea of ??landing US troops has always existed in the Chinese government's thoughts of regaining Taiwan Province. Once the US military lands and occupies Taiwan Province, China will at least have the opportunity and power to exercise power, or it can avoid international political control if there is cooperation from the Allies. Therefore, after the Cairo Conference, the Nationalist Government established the Taiwan Provincial Investigation Committee to collect relevant information and draft a plan to receive and demobilize Taiwan Province. Although there was political consensus at the Cairo Conference, the US military did not give up its intention to occupy territory first. By the end of World War II, the U.S. military did not land in Taiwan Province due to changes in strategic planning, so the idea of ??the U.S. military substantively occupying Taiwan Province naturally did not come true.
After the war, according to the "Order No. 1" issued on August 17, the Nationalist Government obtained the right to surrender Taiwan Province, which was not part of the Chinese war zone, and then planned with the United States *** to land and occupy Taiwan. Province. On August 27, the Nationalist Government announced that on September 3, Taiwan Provincial Chief Executive Chen Yi was appointed as the governor of Taiwan and Peng surrendered. The next day, Chen Yi announced that he would concurrently serve as Commander-in-Chief of Taiwan Provincial Security and issued the "Taiwan Provincial Recovery Plan Outline" to be fully responsible for the surrender, reception and defense of Taiwan and Peng. The "Taiwan Province Recovery Plan Outline" discussed by the Chinese and American leaders took the Nationalist Government's military occupation of Taiwan Province as the main axis and detailed the steps and methods of the Nationalist Government's actual military takeover. Compared with the outline of the Taiwan Province takeover plan, it makes up for the missing parts of the military execution plan in the outline. After the Taiwan Provincial Garrison Command was established on September 1, the Garrison Command, the Commander's Office, and the U.S. Army formed a forward command post on September 28. The forward command post was stationed in Taipei on October 5. The forward command post arrived in Taiwan to conduct on-site preparations related to surrender, occupation, and takeover. The Nationalist Government's plan to take over Taiwan and military occupation came to an end.
During World War II, the takeover and military occupation of Taiwan Province was planned by China and the United States. Originally, China wanted to regain Taiwan Province on the grounds of its national defense gateway, and the United States also recognized Taiwan Province's strategic position in the Western Pacific. However, as the international situation and war situation developed, the Nationalist Government eventually took over Taiwan Province through military occupation in accordance with the "Taiwan Province Recovery Plan Outline" negotiated and planned by the Chinese and American leaders. It is also considered to be a unique product of the Sino-US alliance. This result is obviously different from the historical discussion of the postwar Kuomintang regime within the framework of the Anti-Japanese War and the Kuomintang Civil War.
Regarding the ownership of Taiwan Province after the war, very few Taiwanese people know about the Taiwanese residents who will soon be occupied by military force