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Home , Penghu, Unequal treaty

CHAPTER FIVE Tension across the Strait in the 1950s Chinese Strategy and Tactics

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TAIWAN AND THE PENGHU IsLANDS (the Pescadores) have been 's terri­ tory since ancient times. Historical textual research reveals that the prehis­ toric culture on Taiwan shared common origins with that on the of China. Contact between Taiwan, the Penghu Islands, and the mainland was established centuries ago, and many inhabitants moved from the coastal regions of the mainland and settled on Taiwan. Chinese feudal governments appointed officials, set up effective administration, and stationed soldiers on Taiwan as early as the Song and Yuan dynasties. On , 1895, following the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95, forced the Chinese Qing government to sign the unequal Treaty of Shimo­ noseki, which ceded Taiwan and the Penghu Islands to Japan. But the treaty also stated that Taiwan and the Penghu Islands had been China's territory, and under China's effective administration, before China was defeated and forced to cede them to Japan. The people ofTaiwan launched a ceaseless struggle against Japan's forced occupation of the islands. On December 9, 1941, after the anti-Japanese war broke out, the Chinese government an­ nounced, in its statement declaring war on Japan, "All treaties, agreements, and contracts concerning relations between China and Japan are hereby abolished.''1 This surely included the unequal Treaty of . The 142 GongLi

Cairo Declaration, signed by the heads of the governments of China, the , and Great Britain on December 1, 1943, stated that "all the territories Japan has stolen from the Chinese, such as , Formosa, and the Pescadores, shall be restored to the Republic of China."2 This document made clear that the American and British governments formally promised to support restoration of China's over Taiwan and the Penghu Islands. The of July 26, 1945, reiterated this understanding: "The terms stated in the Cairo Declaration are to be carried out.''3 Soon thereafter, the Soviet Union also joined the Potsdam Declara­ tion, which then became an important international agreement, acknowl­ edged by the four major powers, with irrefutable legal effect in relation to the Taiwan issue. On September 2, 1945, in its Instrument of Surrender, Japan stated that it would "accept the provisions set forth in the declaration issued by the heads of the governments of the United States, China and Great Britain on 26 July, 1945, at Potsdam, and subsequently adhered to by the Union of So­ viet Socialist Republics.'A This statement clearly encompasses the provision of the Cairo Declaration, reiterated in the Potsdam Declaration, that T ai­ wan should be returned to China. After the surrender of Ando, commander ofJapan's Tenth Army and its governor ofTaiwan, Taiwan and the Penghu Islands were returned to China, not only legally but as a matter of fact. For this reason, ever since the Chiang Kai-shek leadership retreated to Taiwan, China has been determined to liberate Taiwan and reunite the country.5 In order to prevent certain countries from trying to treat the "" as a fait accompli by separating Taiwan from the mainland, Mao Zedong, on the eve of the founding of the People's Republic, immediately put forward two principles for establishing diplomatic relations with non­ socialist countries: First, such countries must sever relations with the (KMT) government; second, PRC delegates would be sent abroad to establish diplomatic relations, "the final result depending on the negotiations,'.6 to maintain the position of"one China.'' By signing the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Declaration, the United States acknowledged that Taiwan should be returned to China. But with the gradual collapse of the KMT on the mainland, the American gov­ ernment began to consider a policy of separating China's mainland from Taiwan. President Truman formally approved a new policy toward Taiwan that aimed to "deny Formosa to the communists" and to prevent "Formosa