[DEFINITION]

Native Taiwanese and ROC Exiles

Native Taiwanese People (People of Taiwan): Upon the signing of the surrender documents by the Japanese Emperor on Sept. 2, 1945, all people of Taiwan bearing household registration in Japanese-governed Taiwan and their descendants continuing to possess household registration in Taiwan up to the present.

From the vantage point of the early 1950's, the population of Taiwan can be separated into two major groups, which of course will include their descendants up to the present day.

The first group is the native Taiwanese who had, by 1945, been in Taiwan eighteen generations or more.

The second group is the ROC Chinese who came in mid-October 1945 (brought by US ships and aircraft) and continued in a slow but steady immigrant stream through early 1949. At that point their numbers increased significantly as the communists gained successive victories over KMT forces in China, and ROC loyalists fled the mainland. In late 1949 and into 1950, this exodus resulted in a virtual flood of immigration into occupied Taiwan.

This second group, who may be called the ROC exiles, and including their descendants up to the present day, are of course fully qualified to carry ROC identification documents and passports.

Over the past fifty years in Taiwan, the population ratio between the two groups has remained approximately constant: 80% native Taiwanese, and 20% ROC exiles.

In consideration that the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1952 did not award Taiwan to the Republic of China, it is impossible to understand why the native Taiwanese people are currently recognized as properly holding ROC identification documents and passports. Here in the 21st century, more and more native Taiwanese feel that their misidentification as "ROC citizens" is a serious violation of their human rights.