BEIJING, Dec 2 (RTSG) – China’s recent spat with Japan has become part of the long history of grievances between the two countries. Japan’s new Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, assumed office on October 21st, and almost immediately began campaigning for increased military spending and threatened to involve Japan in China’s dispute with the island of Taiwan. 

Sanae Takaichi said that if the conflict in Taiwan “involves the use of warships and military actions, it could by all means become a survival-threatening situation.” 

“Not even once has the Japanese side fully articulated what exactly [their] position is.”

China has retaliated, with its foreign ministry holding firm on its position that Japan must “retract” its “erroneous” remarks, and that “Japan prevaricated to downplay the situation while continuing down the wrong path. China would absolutely not accept that.”

Often quoted by Japanese politicians in response to the Chinese statements is the ‘Treaty of San Francisco’. 

The Treaty of San Francisco was an agreement signed after World War Two that ended hostile relations between Japan and the allies, as well as formally ending the military occupation and asserting civilian rule in the country. Importantly, the treaty also stipulated that Japan would cede all conquered territory from China – including the island of Taiwan.

Japan often quotes the treaty in response to China’s demands that they retract their statements due to this territorial cession clause.

What makes the Treaty of San Francisco so contentious is the ambiguity of the treaty’s wording. At the time, western powers were uncertain as to which Chinese government to recognize; the People’s Republic of China that controlled the mainland, or the Kuomintang Republic of China, which controlled Taiwan. Due in part to this uncertainty, neither party was invited to the drafting of the Treaty of San Francisco. 

“China has never recognized anything set out in the “Treaty of San Francisco,” including on the sovereignty over Taiwan or the handling of the territory and sovereign rights of China as a non-signatory, and has never accepted the treaty.”

Because it was unwritten as to which government Japan ceded Taiwan to, the government in Taiwan has sometimes quoted the treaty as proof of sovereignty to the islands. However, the People’s Republic of China has fully repudiated this perspective.

China’s foreign minister Lin Jiang said that “The so-called “Treaty of San Francisco” was issued with the exclusion of important parties to WWII, such as the People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Union, in order to seek a separate peace deal with Japan.”

Lin went on to say that “The document goes against the provision of not making a separate armistice or peace with the enemies in the Declaration by the United Nations signed by 26 countries in 1942, including China, the U.S., the UK and the Soviet Union, and violates the UN Charter and the basic principles of international law.”

“Anything set out in the treaty on the sovereignty over Taiwan or the handling of the territory and sovereign rights of China as a non-signatory, is thus entirely illegal, null and void.”

---

Found this article informative?

🚨Subscribe to have an early and exclusive look at some of our more in-depth reporting.