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according to the laws of war.

(7) General Order No. 1 was issued on Sept. 2, 1945. President Harry Truman approved this Order before its promulgation, the United States is the "conqueror" of Japan and her overseas territories, and General MacArthur is the head of the United States military forces. Hence the strongest presumption would be that United States is the principal occupying power of Japan and her overseas dependencies. Importantly, Article 23 of the San Francisco Peace Treaty (SFPT) fully confirms this.

(8) Although the October 25, 1945, Japanese surrender ceremonies in Taiwan were ostensibly conducted on behalf of the Allies, the ensuing military occupation of Taiwan is being conducted on behalf of the "principal occupying power," which is the United States. Military occupation is conducted under military government. Under the SFPT, ROC troops in Taiwan are considered a subordinate occupying power. This is "agency." Oct. 25, 1945 marks the beginning of the military occupation of Taiwan. United States Military Government (USMG) is the principal. The ROC troops are the agent.

Hence, a correct statement of Taiwan's international legal position is to say that it is occupied territory of the United States of America. The ROC in Taiwan has the dual statuses of (1) subordinate occupying power, beginning Oct. 25, 1945, and (2) government in exile, beginning mid-December 1949. There has been no change in these statuses to date. ROC/Taiwan is not a state, and cannot enter the United Nations.

Now let's look at the situation of the People's Republic of China (PRC), which was founded Oct. 1, 1949, in Beijing. First we must recognize that the PRC is the sole legal government of China. This was specified in the 1972 Shanghai Communique, and further reinforced when the United States broke diplomatic relations with the government-in-exile Republic of China in early 1979.

Hence, the "One China Policy" is correct. The PRC is the sole legal government of China. However, the "China" spoken of here does not include Taiwan. This is fully explained in the Congressional Research Service's report China/Taiwan: Evolution of the "One China" Policy (July 9, 2007). In the Summary at the beginning of that report the following points were made -

(1) The United States did not explicitly state the sovereign status of Taiwan in the three US-PRC Joint Communiques of 1972, 1979, and 1982.

(2) The United States "acknowledged" the "One China" position of both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

(3) US policy has not recognized the PRC's sovereignty over Taiwan;

(4) US policy has not recognized Taiwan as a sovereign country; and

(5) US policy has considered Taiwan's status as undetermined.

In summary, Taiwan is currently being administered by the ROC. Hence, the relations between the ROC and the PRC are the relations between a government in exile and its successor state. Taiwan's sovereignty was already renounced by Japan in the 1952 SFPT, so considering that Taiwan is occupied territory of the USA, native Taiwanese people should be holding some form of US overseas passport. There is no legal basis under international law for considering native Taiwanese people as ROC citizens.

Indeed, the issue of US passports for native Taiwanese people is now being adjudicated in a court case in Washington, D.C. See - Washington D.C. court case

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