A Brief Recount of Events Between Taiwan and China

Article by Isabella Wang

Taiwan was first discovered by European sailors in the 1500s, the island recorded as "Ilha Formosa", meaning beautiful island. In 1885, Taiwan officially became a province of the Qing Empire, the government of China at the time. However, in 1894, China and Japan were at war due to a dispute over Korea. This was known as the First Sino-Japanese War, and Japan won shortly after in 1895. Under the Treaty of Shimonoseki, the Qing government ceded its sovereignty of Taiwan to Japan.

Japan continued to rule over Taiwan in 1911. Meanwhile, the Qing Empire was overthrown by Chinese revolutionaries, establishing the Republic of China (ROC) on January 1st, 1912. This is important because ROC leader Chiang Kai-shek met with American President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill during World War II. Chiang Kai-shek wanted to join their efforts of defeating Japan, and per the Cairo Declaration, agreed upon by all three parties, Japan would cede all territories that formerly belonged to the ROC if they were defeated. This was confirmed in 1945 when Japan lost World War II through the Potsdam Declaration; thus, Taiwan belonged to the Republic of China.

In 1948, there was a civil war in China between two political parties: the Kuomintang Party (leading the ROC government) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In 1949 the Kuomintang-ROC government relocated to Taiwan with 1.2 million people following suit from China. On October 25th, 1949, the Battle of Kuningtou on Kinmen resulted in the ROC defeating the CCP. Following suit, martial law (when the military has full authority) ruled over Taiwan.

The ROC, again based in Taiwan, signed the Treaty of Peace with Japan at the Taipei Guest House, which followed up on the previous 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty signed between the 48 Allied nations and Japan. This is because the Cairo Declaration was concluded before December 9th, 1941, and as a consequence of war agreements made prior to that day were considered null. Moving back to the Treaty of Peace, under Article 2 Japan had renounced all claims to Taiwan (as well as Penghu, Spratly Islands, and Paracel Islands).

1971. . .an unfortunate year for the Taiwanese government. Previously, the ROC (again based in Taiwan) had held the "China" seat in the United Nations (UN). Meanwhile, the Communist PRC (People's Republic of China) based in the mainland was continuously excluded from the UN. However, on October 25th, due to the other nations' strengthening economic ties with PRC, the U.N. Resolution 2758 was passed and recognized the PRC as "China". Furthermore, US President Richard Nixon's well-known plan to visit the PRC in 1972 pushed the ROC to withdraw from the UN.

Now, due to Taiwan not being part of the UN, many nations do not recognize Taiwan as a country. However, ROC/Taiwan considers itself an independent nation because it is not tied to the PRC (due to the Chinese Civil War) and Japan had ceded all claims to Taiwan (Treaty of Peace). This is why the international relations between China and Taiwan are quite strained in our contemporary society.

Source: https://www.taiwan.gov.tw/content_3.php

A Deeper Dive into Taiwanese History

I have compiled a playlist of Youtube videos that explain Taiwan's history, dating from when it was first discovered as "Formosa" to now.

Explains the political history of Taiwan

Explains the history of Taiwan's aboriginal tribes

Explains the history of Taiwan before it became a democracy (1785-Present)

Explains the CURRENT conflict in Taiwan

Image via TaipeiTimes

aerial-view-of-cityscape-at-taipei-center-district--taiwan-861177234-5b7f14a446e0fb005087f

Here, I have compiled the best resources related to the current political situation of Taiwan Cross-Strait... it's worth a read!!

Implications for International Relations/Foreign Policy as a Result of Taiwan Cross-Strait

Alastair Johnston's "When might US political support be unwelcome in Taiwan?"
Challenges whether or not US political support would help Taiwan as it may negatively impact Taiwan’s national security. There is the assumption that any political support for Taiwan would be helpful, something that I fell into too, but Johnston brings up some good points that makes you stop and think for a second.

Paul Kennedy's The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers
So this is a longer read (it's a book) and mainly covers Western Europe. HOWEVER I think it is important because especially in the 19th century and onward, European nations have really become involved with China and has impacted foreign policy today. Paul Kennedy draws up a lot of charts and data that helps depict military power and the idea of militarism, imperialism, etc. Definitely check it out, it's probably one of my favorites in general!

Tyler Jost's "The Institutional Origins of Miscalculation in China's International Crises"Jost investigates the impact of national security institutions on China's crisis miscalculations, which in turn affects China's potential strategies to advance interests such as a "reunification with Taiwan". This article/essay focuses more on how these institutions influenced China's decisions as opposed to what China's current decisions would cause...just something to keep in mind.

Jacob Shapiro's "Does the BRI Increase China’s Influence?"
This draws heavy implications to U.S. foreign policy toward China due to China's growing influence. Shapiro evidences this growing influence through the BRI, or Belt Road Initiative. He conveys the increasing fear from the U.S., which actually affects Taiwan too because it would impact how the U.S. approaches the Taiwan Cross-Strait.

Specifically the Taiwan-Cross Strait

Andrew Ross' "Ethics and Emotion in International Relations"
This emphasizes international ethics and emotion (who would've thought) and their role in culture and politics—especially the notion of cultural assumptions. This is especially important for Taiwan Cross-Strait Relations because Ross is observing how manipulating these emotions (e.g. fear-mongering), could convince the audience to think a certain way. Ross also explains how these emotions can be manipulated, such as through media in our contemporary time, again impacting the audience thinking a certain way and reacting to certain policies.

Philip Ivanhoe's "Losing Face"
Ivanhoe explores the notion of face, or the societal perception of self, which is very common in Chinese culture. He uses this to show how the government manipulating something so important in Chinese culture allows it to create negative policies. Ivanhoe mentions China's social credit system that actually negates the value of face in Chinese culture. This draws implications to Taiwan because essentially, the Chinese government convinces the citizens to believe in "reunification" by manipulating the notion of face.

Minxin Pei's "China in Xi's 'New Era': A Play for Global Leadership"
This is really an investigation of the subtle change of China's foreign policy into something that is increasingly aggressive ever since Mao Zedong's death. Pei analyzes President Xi's imperial overreach, drawing implications to Taiwan, that fosters unfortunately contentious relations with Western nations.

Paul Festa's "Mahjong Politics in Contemporary China"

So this is a very interesting article, as Festa uses the motif of the Chinese game mahjong to reflect how Chinese politics: there is resistance to full state control through economic regulations, as well as drawing implications to how Taiwan can regain its autonomy.

Please stay tuned by subscribing to the newsletter! I am currently compiling all of these resources to write a comprehensive article relation to the Taiwan Cross-Strait; it's a big task but will be worth it :)