Comments:  According to Article 5 of the treaty, there was a two year grace period, where those persons preferring to retain the nationality of Qing China could remove themselves and their possessions to mainland China. After the cession of Taiwan to Japan in this treaty, the local inhabitants of Taiwan were regarded as having Japanese nationality, according to the laws regarding the administration of overseas territories by the Imperial Japanese government. The validity of the cession of Taiwan by Qing China was fully recognized in the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty, where "Formosa and the Pescadores" were classified as an insular area of Japan.

View Treaty of Shimonoseki...

Note:  It is incorrect to refer to the period of Japanese rule of Taiwan as "the Japanese occupation." This period was not military occupation, but rather was a transfer of Taiwan’s territorial sovereignty to Japan. Terminology such as "Japanese colonial period" may be more appropriate.

Comments:  The promulgation of this law had no effect on the native Taiwanese people, for the simple reason that in that era, Taiwan was still an overseas territory of Japan.

Comments: The US Congress declared war against the Empire of Japan following the surprise attack against Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. During the course of the Pacific war, the historical record shows that all military attacks against (Japanese) Formosa and the Pescadores, were conducted by United States military forces. The Republic of China military forces did not participate.

Comments: In this General Order, General Douglas MacArthur directed Japanese troops in Taiwan to surrender to Chiang Kai-shek.

Comments: ROC military officers announced "Taiwan Retrocession Day," i.e. proclaiming that Taiwan was being annexed by the Republic of China. Under international law, such an announcement is totally illegal. In truth, beginning on this date, the ROC is merely exercising "delegated administrative authority" for the military occupation of Taiwan. According to the customary laws of warfare, the legal occupier is the conqueror, and that is the United States of America.

Military Occupation of Taiwan...

Comments: On this date, ROC military officers announced that all native Taiwanese were mass naturalized as "ROC citizens," retroactive to Oct. 25, 1945. Under international law, such an action is totally illegal. In fact, Taiwan was still part of Japan's national territory until April 28, 1952, when Japan gave up all right, claim, and title.

It is also important to note that this Jan 12, 1946, order was never ratified by the ROC’s Legislative Yuan, nor made into a law. Additionally, in violation of standard international practice, there was no grace period.

Comments: This constitution was brought over from Mainland China by the KMT during the Chinese Civil War period of the late 1940's. During this period of time, Taiwan was under military occupation, and had not been incorporated into Chinese territory. As such, under international law, it is very questionable to regard this ROC Constitution (often called the "Nanjing Constitution") as the true organic law of the Taiwan cession.

Comments: For the inhabitants of Taiwan, travel outside of Taiwan area was now severely restricted.

Comments: In recent years, a number of citizen rights groups in Taiwan have asked officials of the ROC, ministry of National defense for specific details regarding the legal basis for manditory military conscription in the Taiwan area, and to our knowledge, no definitive replies have ever been forthcoming. In the view of the US Supreme Court, (Selective Draft Law Cases, 1918), military conscription is one of the attributes of a national government. As the ROC does not exercise sovereignty over Taiwan, its qualification as a "national goverment" is extremely questionable.