Hi everyone, this is Klaus.
We have talked about Taiwan's sovereignty for two episodes in terms of history, culture, and politics, etc.
We have received a total of over 10,000 comments.
There are many controversies surrounding the status of Taiwan.
So I've read your comments, done my research,
and made this episode covering the following topics,
the formation of Taiwan Island, the history of Taiwan-China relations,
Zheng Chenggong’s race,
the area in Taiwan actually controlled by the Qing Dynasty, whether Qing counts as China,
and how international conventions such as the Cairo Declaration and the San Francisco Peace Treaty affect Taiwan.
This is the only video you'll ever need to watch to answer the question of whether Taiwan has always been a part of China.
I will give you the definitive answer.
I hope you enjoy this video.
The Chinese state media always say that Taiwan has belonged to China since ancient times.
Since ancient times? But since when exactly?
In Chinese geography textbooks,
the relationship between Taiwan and China can be traced back to prehistoric times
when Taiwan and the mainland were originally connected together before the Taiwan Strait appeared
and Taiwan Island was separated from the mainland.
But in fact, Taiwan Island was formed by the convergence between the Philippine Sea Plate and the Eurasian Plate.
That's why Taiwan mostly consists of mountainous areas. There are five great mountains in Taiwan.
Even if Taiwan had once been connected to the mainland, it still wouldn't count as part of China,
since the entire Eurasian continent has always been as a whole.
You might as well say that the entire Eurasian continent belongs to China!
In fact, the word "Taiwan" did not appear in Chinese history until the end of Ming.
Before that, Taiwan had always been called "Yizhou".
This is also recognized in Chinese textbooks.
"Yi" is a derogatory term for people outside of ancient China's jurisdiction.
Even during the late Qing Dynasty, there was a saying, "We can learn from Yi (westerners) to defeat them."
In other words, before Zheng Chenggong from the late Ming Dynasty, no regime from the mainland had ruled Taiwan.
Only brief contact had been made, as recorded by the Book of Wu in the Records of the Three Kingdoms.
The name "Yizhou" illustrates two points.
First, ancient China viewed the coast as its eastern border.
Overseas places were all called "Yi", such as Japan and Ryukyu.
So it is uncertain whether "Yizhou" actually referred to Taiwan.
Second, the fact that the people of Wu used the term "Yizhou"
means that the place was not considered part of China at that time.
In addition, the Book of Wu says that most of Wu's soldiers died from a pandemic and Quan regretted sending the troops deeply.
Some netizens say that the Yuan Dynasty established the Penghu Inspection Department.
The jurisdiction of the Penghu Inspection Department was only the Penghu Islands, not Taiwan.
So, before Zheng Chenggong from the late Ming,
no regime from the mainland had ever ruled on Taiwan Island.
Before that, Taiwan, "Yizhou", had never belonged to China. This is certain.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Zheng Chenggong established the first Han regime in Taiwan.
Officials in mainland China say, "Zheng Chenggong recovered Taiwan".
But as mentioned earlier, before Zheng Chenggong, China had never ruled Taiwan,
so Zheng did not "recover" Taiwan, nor was he a national hero.
Zheng simply failed to resist the Qing army on the mainland, so he invaded Taiwan to find a foothold.
Whether Taiwan belonged to China at that time has been controversial.
First of all, Zheng Chenggong was not a pure Han Chinese.
His mother was Japanese and he was born in Japan.
By today’s standards, he was Chinese Japanese, but Japanese nonetheless.
Even if Zheng Chenggong could be defined as Chinese,
you still can't say that Taiwan ruled by the Zheng family belonged to China.
First, Zheng only controlled a small southwestern corner of Taiwan,
covering ​​less than one-tenth of Taiwan's area.
There were other regimes on the island, such as the Dadu, Daguiwen, Majia Kingdoms.
Second, the regime established by Zheng didn't belong to the Ming Dynasty, which represented China.
Just because Zheng's regime belonged to the Ming Dynasty doesn't mean Zheng was loyal to the Ming Dynasty.
When Zheng Chenggong was on the mainland, he opposed the Qing Dynasty and supported the Ming regime.
But after arriving in Taiwan, he did not support Ming's imperial clan.
Many Ming royal family members followed Zheng instead to Taiwan,
including Ning Jing King Zhu Shugui and Lu Wang Prince Zhu Honghuan.
The Zheng family established the Tungning Kingdom.
So, if you say that Taiwan belonged to Ming China,
then the Zheng family would be the earliest pro-independence force in Taiwan.
Following these three points, Taiwan under Zheng was never a part of China.
After that, the Qing army attacked Taiwan and Ming Zheng perished.
The Qing Dynasty began to rule Taiwan. But was Taiwan a part of China then?
There are many problems with this.
First, the Qing Dynasty drew a line of "earth cattle" on Taiwan,
actually ruling only one third of the island.
Only after Taiwan was ceded to Japan was Taiwan finally unified.
Second, the Qing Dynasty faced a very controversial issue in history:
does the Qing Dynasty count as China?
The title "China" began as the Republic of China established in 1912.
Today, "China" is known as the People’s Republic of China established in 1949.
Although the word "Middle Kingdom" first appeared over 3,000 years ago,
it was literal,
meaning the Central Plains region and the country in the middle.
Even if we use traditional and cultural inheritance to define China in a broad sense,
"China" should refer to the Central Plains Dynasties dominated by the Han culture originating from the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers.
As mentioned earlier, those living outside the Central Plains culture were viewed as barbarians (Yi) by the ancient Chinese,
and not considered to be Chinese by the Chinese at the time.
Therefore, both Yuan and Qing were non-Chinese "barbarians" by the Chinese at that time.
From the perspective of cultural inheritance and ruling policy, China was under colonial rule during Yuan and Qing.
After the Qing army entered China, it not only massacred the Han Chinese,
but also wiped out Chinese culture.
The Han Chinese were forced to choose between their head and their braid.
Even the Chinese language was changed as Manchu elements were added.
Later, the Qing Dynasty only advocated Han culture superficially.
After all, they had to rule over the Han Chinese who were absolutely dominant in number.
But in fact, from the perspective of various policies,
the Han Chinese in the Qing Dynasty were completely colonized.
So, all the rebellions against Qing, such as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement,
and the Revolution of 1911 whose slogan was "to expel the Tartars and revitalize China",
denied the claim that Qing was China.
The points mentioned above beg the question of whether Taiwan under Qing rule belonged to China.
In 1895, the Qing Empire and the Japanese Empire
signed the "Treaty of Shimonoseki" to let Japan have Taiwan permanently.
Under Japanese rule, various forces in Taiwan were unified.
For the next 50 years, Taiwan belonged to Japan. Its identity was clear cut.
The same can't be said about Taiwan under Ming Zheng and Qing rule.
Then the question of sovereignty over Taiwan reappeared after Japan’s surrender.
First, in the Cairo Declaration in 1943,
China, Britain, the US, and the Soviet Union issued a communiqué:
All territories acquired by Japan from China, including Manchuria, Taiwan and the Penghu Islands,
should be returned to the Republic of China.
Later, the content of the Cairo Declaration was reiterated in the Potsdam Declaration in 1945.
Then Japan announced its surrender on August 10 and accepted the Potsdam Declaration.
Finally, by the San Francisco Peace Treaty in 1951, Japan agreed to give up Taiwan.
The sovereignty over Taiwan and the Penghu Islands should be entrusted to the UN
These terms have once again caused a territorial dispute over Taiwan.
Some say that neither the Cairo Declaration nor Potsdam Declaration was a treaty,
but the San Francisco Peace Treaty was, and therefore should take precedence,
bringing the Republic of China's sovereignty over Taiwan into question.
So what do I think?
First, in 1951 when the San Francisco Peace Treaty was signed,
the Republic of China was recognized as China by the whole world.
The Republic of China, still a permanent member of the UN at the time, did not sign the Treaty.
The ROC actually controlled Taiwan, so what went wrong?
Even the ROC agreed that Taiwan should be entrusted to the UN.
Then there was nothing left to say, right?
Actually, the San Francisco Peace Treaty cannot override the Cairo and Potsdam Declarations.
In the letter of surrender signed by the Emperor of Japan on September 2, 1945,
he expressly accepted the Potsdam Declaration.
In other words, Japan recognizes the legal effect of the Potsdam Declaration,
"whatever its particular designation", as stated in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.
In addition, according to the documents of the International Court of Justice,
communiqués and press bulletins also count as international agreements.
Moreover, the original text of the Cairo Declaration is on record of the State Department.
That is, as far as the US government is concerned, the Cairo Declaration is a legally binding document
So, the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Declaration
have returned Taiwan to the Republic of China.
The San Francisco Peace Treaty did not explicitly take Taiwan away from the Republic of China.
So, let's look at all the facts.
Taiwan never belonged to China until Zheng Chenggong. This much is clear.
The identity of Taiwan under Zheng and Qing was not clear.
Taiwan under Japanese rule, undoubtedly, belonged to Japan.
From Japan's surrender in 1945 to 1951 when the San Francisco Peace Treaty was signed,
Taiwan undoubtedly belonged to China, even though there were two Chinas at that time.
Back then, the Republic of China was the one generally recognized by the world
as having sovereignty and full control over Taiwan.
Since 1951, due to the San Francisco Peace Treaty, there has been a territorial dispute over Taiwan.
The period between 1945 and 1951 were truly the only time without territorial disputes over Taiwan.
Thus, the claim that Taiwan has always belonged to China since ancient times is no longer valid.
Well, whether you like it or not, our channel only spreads the truth.
Time to hear your comments.
In our last episode, we talked about whether Trump's Covid-19 diagnosis could win him sympathy,
and why China is not a society that sympathizes with the weak.
Netizen Jack Lam used a good analogy,
"Europeans and Americans have the quality of a gregarious carnivore.
Although there are conflicts, they understand the importance of mutual assistance and cooperation.
So they are willing to fight enemies together, hunt and eat together.
The Chinese are like herbivores.
Those who have watched Animal World know that herbivores like to live in groups.
They appear to be united, but when one of them is in trouble or danger,
the others usually wait and watch from a distance instead of helping.
They're very indifferent. At best, only the parents would try to help.
This is very similar to the social pattern of the Chinese."
Netizen Brian Chang said,
"No wonder that a Little Pink is planning to kill all 600 million poor people in China,
even including his parents.
The weak in China are seen as a stumbling block to the progress of the country, not to be sympathized with."
Recently, a letter from a Chinese college student wanting to kill 600 million poor people went viral.
He thought they were holding back the country. Such ideas are actually not allowed by the CCP.
The rich need the poor. If the poor were all dead, who would the CCP enslave then?
Many netizens also shared with us more proverbs reflecting Chinese social Darwinism.
Netizen BiuTone said, "There's a saying in mainland China,
'Strike when the enemy is down. Push the wall if it’s going to fall.'"
Netizen Faquar Gu said, "If you fall behind, you will be attacked."
Netizen Yohhika Cheng said, "One mountain cannot accommodate two tigers.
Everyone sweeps the snow in front of their own door, and cares little about others."
Netizen Kang Mailang said, "'If it doesn't concern you, leave it and let others carry the burden.'"
These are some linguistic manifestations of Social Darwinism in China.
Alright, that's it for this video.
Thank you for your comments.
This is Klaus. See you next time.