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After the Second World War was over and Japan had surrendered, its imperial holdings, both new and old, were taken away from it and either given to its neighbors, returned to their former colonial owners, or given independence. One part of Japan's empire that was taken away from it was Formosa, known nowadays as Taiwan, which was occupied then quickly annexed by the Republic of China in 1945. Now, Japan had won the island from China in 1895, and the Chinese were desperate to get it back. Well, not all of them. There were those in China who didn't lay claim to the island and considered taking it to be little more than an act of imperialism. And whilst Britain and the United States
did approve of it returning to China in 1943, how much they meant it is up for debate. Yet, to the surprise of the Americans, Taiwan was immediately annexed, and it would soon become a centrally important part of Chinese history. But given some of the Allied misgivings surrounding China's ownership, why was it just allowed? Why was Taiwan given to China and the Japanese forced to give it up? So, as you all know, historically, China and Japan didn't have a good relationship, with numerous Imperial Chinese dynasties attempting to force Japan's submission militarily and diplomatically. And Japan in 1894, after its modernizing reforms, launched an invasion of Korea, a Chinese puppet state at the time. The Japanese were swiftly victorious and managed to
pry Korea from China's control, alongside seizing Formosa and the surrounding islands, too. They did try to take this as well, but some of the great powers at the time were furious at what they saw as Japanese overreach, and so forced them to abandon it. Anyway, these gains were internationally recognized, and Japan's prestige grew. It intervened in China with the Western powers during the Boxer Rebellion, and in 1904, the Japanese came to blows with the Russians and were again victorious, gaining this in the following peace treaty and cementing Japan's place as a great power. In World War I, the Japanese gained all of this from Germany, and at this point Tokyo's leaders realized that they were really
good at this whole empire-building stuff, and so obviously, they would soon want more. And more they would get, with Japan prying this major chunk of territory from the Republic of China in the 1930s and establishing a puppet state there run by China's last deposed emperor. Now, the two states wouldn't magically repair their relationship, and in 1937, war kicked off again. In 1941, to cut down on paperwork, Japan decided to merge this conflict with the ongoing Second World War by attacking the US and Britain. And as you'll all be fully aware, it ended very poorly for the Japanese. So, in 1943, as the war raged on, China, the US, and Britain met in Cairo. And there, they would decide on
how best to prosecute the war against Japan and who would get what in the event of Japan's defeat. And during this meeting, the Americans promised Chiang Kai-shek, China's premier, the return of Manchuria and Taiwan. This might sound like a done deal, but at the time, the primary concern for the United States was keeping China in the war. Hence why Roosevelt even hinted at giving China Okinawa and the surrounding islands. And as such, they were willing to promise whatever it took to keep the Chinese fighting and thus tying up the majority of Japan's land forces. And the Americans were careful not to say how any of this would happen or when. The US wanted Japan's imperial territories to be placed under an international
trusteeship, thus allowing for a transition period for them to debate on what exactly would be done. Furthermore, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt was worried about China once again laying claim to Korea and felt that promising Taiwan was a good way of getting Chiang to drop said claim. This agreement was made without Britain's know-how, which upset its leaders and presented a later issue for Roosevelt. Whilst the British were allied with Chiang's government, that doesn't mean that they saw eye to eye. China was very critical of European colonialism in Asia, and as [clears throat] such, Britain was very suspicious of what China's long-term plans were. And whilst the British wanted Japan punished, many there wanted
Japan to lose the territory it had gained since World War I, whilst also losing Korea. This is in part because prior to the war, Britain had good trade ties with Japanese Taiwan. And so, the Americans knew that London would have interests in Taiwan that would have to be dealt with after the war. But that was a problem for the future. And so, Chiang got a promise for Taiwan's return and Britain got told to just go along with it. So, after a couple of large booms, the Japanese agreed to unconditional surrender. And whilst the Japanese were overwhelmingly worried about the loss of the emperor, the allies were more concerned with disarming Japan so it couldn't threaten the winning powers ever again. And part of this included stripping it of its
territory, strategic bases, and population to permanently weaken it. Now, initially, the Allied plan was to split Japan into these zones of occupation. But after the Japanese surrendered, the Americans were the only ones in a position to do any real occupying. Mostly because it was the only power that wasn't totally broke or in a position to actually transport its troops Whereas the USSR after its own invasion was already occupying large swaths of China and Korea, and Soviet leaders weren't all that interested in occupying Japan because their primary concerns were to the west. With the war now over and done with, the USA divided up the rest of Japan's empire into zones of occupation, and Taiwan was placed
under Chinese authority. China took over the running of the island 2 months later, and about 5 seconds after arriving, they annexed it. The rest of the allies weren't all too pleased about this, which in turn was upsetting to the Chinese because of the previous promises that they'd made. To Britain and the US though, these promises weren't so clear-cut, and things were now much more complicated because Churchill's agreement didn't mean much after he'd been voted out of office, and Roosevelt's approval held much less weight ever since he died. This change gave the allies some room to maneuver on what they had intended with their support. And China's quick annexation of the island was seen as destabilizing,
and this is because the response from many Japanese statesmen was not exactly a happy one. Whilst they knew that China had been promised Taiwan, their hope was that they could convince the allies to either allow them to remain there or at least make it independent. Most of these voices came from conservative politicians there, and because the allies blamed them for the war, they were mostly excluded from the running of the place, and their replacements were much more concerned with building a new Japan alongside the Americans. And also, Japan's occupiers weren't exactly sympathetic to any of its territorial wishes. However, there were some disagreement on just how much of Japan's
empire should be dismantled because in the months following, the looming Cold War and coming showdown with the Soviets meant that Japan's history as an anti-communist bulwark in Asia was important. And whilst the Japanese themselves knew that keeping Taiwan was very, very unlikely, they really didn't want to give it to the Chinese, whom they considered to be militarily inferior and undeserving of any territorial spoils. Of course, the Americans had much more pressing priorities such as rewriting Japan's constitution and rebuilding the country. And what exactly were they going to do anyway? Invade Taiwan and kick the Chinese out? Obviously not. However, circumstances do change, and here they
changed quite quickly. First of all, it soon became apparent to the allies that whilst the Taiwanese had wanted to rejoin China, their enthusiasm didn't last all too long. For Chinese leadership, Taiwan was seen as an issue of national honor, and they were mostly interested in the island's natural resources, with many of them seeing the Taiwanese as semi-Chinese backwards traitors. And so they treated them as such with any criticisms being met with force. And some in Taiwan had even expressed preference for the Japanese. And whilst of course Japan hadn't exactly been a benevolent overlord, the Republic of China's Kuomintang party weren't very nice either. And when the
Chinese Civil War kicked off again in 1946, the allies were suddenly faced with the question of who would actually end up in control of Taiwan in the long run. As the Republic of China's position weakened, it looked like Taiwan would eventually fall to the communists. And in doing so would act as a vital naval base likely for the Soviets and a potential springboard for the spread of communism. Things were yet again complicated because Mao Zedong, the Chinese communist leader, had decried the annexation of Taiwan as imperialist and had historically argued for Taiwan's independence from Japan, not its incorporation into China. With this in mind, the US now had an opening if it wanted to renege on its deal. And in
response, one of its proposals was that Taiwan's population would be given a chance to vote on independence. The choice being between staying a part of the Republic of China and sharing its fate in the ongoing civil war or to vote for independence. The Americans knew that the KMT would obviously refuse and so hoped to get Britain and France on side to pressure the United Nations into accepting it and forcing the issue. The problem with this was that the Republic of China held a veto over it. And whilst the USSR was suspicious of Mao controlling all of China, it knew that Taiwanese independence would only benefit the US and Japan, which it did not want and so that idea was doomed.
The second option was military occupation. This was discussed at length but the concern was that an occupation would put a massive strain on America's already busy demobilizing military and would also act as a Soviet propaganda coup against Washington by making the US look like a power that went back on its word and also one that was trying to build its own empire. Option number three was to do nothing and hope for the best. And to your inevitable surprise, that is what the US government chose to do. Soon after this, the Republic of China's government fled to Taiwan from the mainland and in the eyes of many in Washington and Tokyo, it was now essentially an independent state. And
when the Korean War kicked off in 1950, the Americans used this as a reason to supply the KMT government there. It also patrolled the seas between Taiwan and the mainland to make sure that Mao couldn't invade. As for the Japanese, a politically friendly Taiwan whose population didn't much care for their new leaders was seen as a win. The Tokyo government at the time wasn't focused on rearmament like the Americans were pushing for, but instead on economic growth. The Japanese were now in a position where they could trade with Taiwan for the natural resources there it had previously had access to. And with the civil war essentially at a standstill, Tokyo could now also approach the communists for trade. This was part of a much larger push to have
Japan recognized as a reformed power, one which now wanted peace and it planned to use trade and diplomacy to show that. With respect to Taiwan specifically, it did this when signing the 1951 Treaty of San Francisco, in which Japan renounced its rights to Taiwan, but importantly didn't say to whom. Something which worked well for its own foreign policy and that of the treaty's author, the United States. I hope you enjoyed this episode with a special thanks to my patrons, James Bizenet, Sky Chappell, Katoitsuka, Winston Kaywood, Marvin Cassell, YN Hockey, Michael Holbert, Paul H Castle, Bravo Shuwenin, Alex Schwin, Gustav Swan, Andy McGeehee, Lester Diamond, Yiduan Wang, Anthony Beckett, Air Firefly, Respectful Level of Chaos, Captain Sai Dog, The Flying Deutschland,
Spencer Lightfoot, Robert C Perkins, The McWapper, Rod D Martin, Kamoon Yun, Dr. Frederick Dan Lyman, The Gym Stahlin, Remco Heusman, Jim Strunberg, and Lord Beak.
