Jean

Indisputably, the defining legal instrument of Taiwan's sovereignty is the San Francisco Peace Treaty.

Under the San Francisco Peace Treaty, Japan ceded Taiwan without a recipient and the US was explicitly named as the Principal Occupying Power, Taiwan's legal status is clearly as a territorial cession, occupied primarily by the US with the occupation delegated to the Chinese government in exile named the ROC.

By their words and actions, the US state department and executive show that they know this truth.

The question is: Who else knows?

Does the US congress know?

Do the American people know?

Does the ROC know?

Do the Taiwanese people know?

Does the PRC know?

Do the Chinese people know?

Does the UN know?

Will continued intentional obfuscation by the state department be helpful?

Since the Chinese seem to be pouring money into modernizing their military, it seems clear that they are intent on challenging the US. Can the US meet the challenge? Will the Chinese be a signifigant threat in the foreseeable future?

If the UN does not consider Taiwan to be a state, and since only sovereign states may bring cases to the ICJ, who would speak on behalf of Taiwan? Who is actually holding Taiwan's sovereignty?Who has the power to definitively decide Taiwan's sovereignty?

In "Formosa Betrayed" by George H. Kerr he tells all about Formosa in the post war years. He was in the state dept. and was obviously very sympathetic to the Formosan cause. He's a professional, so why doesn't he specifically mention this key thing?

Taiwan was part of the Japanese empire from 1895 to 1952. What was their citizenship then. What would their passport say? Was it just a Japanese passport or did it say Formosa or what?

It seems like the PRC's idea of the status quo is not the same as that of the USA or of Taiwan. Is there something going on behind the scenes? This sacred status quo of theirs looks like a blurry mixed up mess to me!

Ban rejected the application of Taiwan to the UN (without due process) on the grounds of UN resolution 2757; which gave the ROC's UN seat to the PRC. What he did would have made sense if the application were filed under the name ROC. But 2757 applies to China, not Taiwan. But then Ban went on to say that it is the opinion of the UN that Taiwan is part of China! Do you think they paid him to say that?

I would hope that the US will set him straight to the fact that Taiwan is neither PRC nor ROC territory. It is most definitely US territory from the San Francisco Peace Treaty in 1952 untill today.

Since Formosa and the Pescadores (Taiwan) are unincorporated US territory since the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951, Did the signing of the Shanghai Communique obligate the US to hand it over to the PRC? Is it binding? Or are there other options?

The US embargoed ALL of Japan's sources of petrolium, effectively putting a stranglehold on them. Didn't that leave them with no choice but to attack? Wouldn't we (the US) do the same under the circumstances?

Since Taiwan's true legal status is as an occupied territory of the United States (with the US as the "principal occupying power" and the landless ROC merely as a "subordinate occupying power"), why does the US seem to want to keep this status a secret?

In the San Francisco Peace Treaty, Japan ceded Taiwan (Formosa) and the Pescadores. But the treaty didn't specify to whom it is ceded to. Therefore it was, and still is, under the authority of the US government. Why hasn't the US goverment handed it over to the ROC authorities on Taiwan?