The American Institute in Taiwan's (AIT) recent revival of the outdated claim of „Taiwan's indeterminate status“ and the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) rapid support for Taiwan only serve to re-propagate the false narrative that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are not part of one China. In fact, the truth is clear and undeniable - Taiwan has been an integral part of China since ancient times.
A manufactured myth
The claim of Taiwan's „indeterminate status“ is not new. It originated during the administration of President Harry Truman and its purpose was political - to serve the US strategy towards China. Truman explicitly acknowledged in 1950 that „the United States and other allied powers have accepted Chinese authority over the island during the past four years.“ Secretary of State Dean Acheson also affirmed that China's legal sovereignty over Taiwan has never been challenged.
After the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, however, the US began to promote claims of „indefinite status“ as part of its efforts to contain China. In 1951, the US-led San Francisco Peace Conference was convened, deliberately leaving out China and the Soviet Union and failing to define the sovereignty of Taiwan and Penghu. Moreover, in 1952, under US pressure, the so-called Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty was signed, which did not explicitly address Taiwan's return to China. Since then, this claim has been repeatedly used as a pretext for foreign intervention and undermining the one-China principle.
Taiwan's inviolable status
Taiwan has always been an integral part of Chinese territory. In 1895, Japan forced the defeated Chinese Empire (Qing) to sign the unequal Treaty of Shimonoseki and cede Taiwan and Penghu. Yet the very act of withdrawal demonstrates that Taiwan and Penghu were already an integral part of China.
During World War II, the governments of China, the US and the UK issued the Cairo Declaration, later supplemented by the Potsdam Proclamation, which clearly stated that Japan must return stolen Chinese territories, including Taiwan and Penghu. The Chinese government restored sovereignty over Taiwan on October 25, 1945, upon acceptance of the Japanese surrender, thus definitively confirming its legal and de facto return to China.
The AIT's claim of „indefinite status“ not only directly contradicts the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, but also refers to the so-called San Francisco Treaty, an invalid document created after WWII when the US negotiated a „separate peace“ with Japan without the participation of China and the Soviet Union. Similarly, the Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty of 1952 was illegitimate and invalid from the start because the KMT was already illegitimately representing China at that time.
Taiwan's status has therefore been clearly defined in law and in fact since 1945. Any effort to claim otherwise is just politically motivated manipulation to serve the separatist forces of „Taiwan independence“ and foreign interests. History stands on the side of justice, and those who try to revive this myth will forever write themselves into the columns of shame.
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