The Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty and the Chinese residents in Japan—Legal status problem under the 1952 regime

ABSTRACT

The Sino – Japanese Peace Treaty signed in April 1952 not only set the basic framework for diplomatic relations between China, Japan, and Taiwan until 1972, but was also significant in substantially determining the legal status of Chinese residents in Japan during the same period. Subsequently, this paper analyzes both the legislative process in Japan leading up to the Sino – Japanese Peace Treaty and the process of diplomatic negotiations between Japan and China and identifies the following points. In the process of legislating the Immigration Control Ordinance, the Japanese government, while recognizing that Chinese mainlanders in Japan were Chinese nationals, considered them to be outside the legal jurisdiction of the Republic of China (R.O.C.) government, and while recognizing the jurisdiction of the R.O.C. government over Formosans in Japan to a certain extent, interpreted “the ultimate nationality of Taiwanese people has not been determined” from the standpoint that the legal status of Taiwan was undetermined. The R.O.C. government was forced to accept the Japanese government’s treatment regarding the legal status of Chinese residents in Japan because it was unable to have its sovereignty over Taiwan and the Penghu Islands clearly stated in the articles of the Sino – Japanese Peace Treaty out of consideration for the United States, which acted as an intermediary in the negotiations of the treaty.

KEYWORDS:

• Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty
• Chinese residents in Japan
• 1952 regime
• legal status problem

Acknowledgments

This paper is a translation with additions and corrections of a paper that received the 11th Japan Association for Taiwan Studies Award.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Geolocation information

Japan, Tokyo, Taiwan, Taipei

Notes

^1. On this point, see Tsuruzono,“Repatriation, Registration, and Legal Status,” 38–62.

^2. He, The Situation and Identity of Taiwanese in Japan after WWII,171.

^3. Onuma, Beyond the Myth of Mono-ethnic Japan: Koreans in Japan and the Immigration Control System, Chapter 3.

^4. Peng and Ng, Taiwan’s Legal Status, Huang, “Disputes over Taiwan’s Sovereignty and the Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty since World War II,” 59–104.

^5. Onuma, The Nationality and Human Rights of Koreans in Japan, 231–232.

^6. For the full text of the Immigration Control Ordinance, see the Official Gazette, No. 7422 (October 4, 1951), 28–66.

^7. Kim, Postwar Japanese Politics and the Issue of Koreans in Japan, Chapter 6.

^8. Ibid, 697–703. SCAP’s reasons for opposing the supplementary provisions were based on LS Chief Carpenter’s memorandum.

^9. Sunao Sonoda and Osamu Inaba of the Democratic Party of Japan, Shozo Oya and Kinjiro Kawashima of the right wing of the Socialist Party, Seiji Katsumata and Kozo Inomata of the left wing of the Socialist Party, and Hisao Kuroda of the Labour-Farmer Party, and others.

^10. Author unknown, “Opposition Campaigns Against Immigration Control Ordinance, Opposition Party Sympathizers Chinese and Koreans,”

^11. “Written Opinion on the Immigration Control Ordinance,”

^12. Ibid.

^13. Chen ed, History of Chinese Residents in Japan and Foreign Student Movement, 295.

^14. Wu and He ed, The Postwar History of Formosans in Japan: Memoirs of Wu Xiuzhu, 72.

^15. “Basic Attitude Toward the Immigration Control Ordinance (Draft),”

^16. Law Concerning Measures of Orders Relating to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Based on the Case Concerning Orders Issued upon Acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration.

^17. Ibid.

^18. “Thirteenth Session of the Diet, Minutes of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives, No. 12,”

^19. “Thirteenth Session of the Diet, Minutes of the Deliberation Council of the Committees on Foreign Affairs and Legal Affairs of the House of Representatives, No. 1,”

^20. As above, “Thirteenth Session of the Diet, Minutes of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives, No. 12,”

^21. Ibid.

^22. “Thirteenth Session of the Diet, House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, No. 14,”

^23. Ibid., 3.

^24. Ibid., 7.

^25. Ibid., 7.

^26. Ibid., 12.

^27. Ibid., 15.

^28. Ibid., 18.

^29. Ibid., 22.

^30. “Thirteenth Session of the Diet, House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, No. 15,”

^31. “Thirteenth Session of the Diet, House of Councillors Committee on Foreign Affairs, No. 25,”

^32. “Thirteenth Session of the Diet, House of Councillors Committee on Foreign Affairs, No. 26,”

^33. Chikaraishi, “The Sino-Japanese Treaty from a Legal Perspective,” 26.

^34. Chang, Korean War Saved Taiwan? Analysis on the U.S. Policy toward Taiwan, Chapter3.

^35. Ishii, “China and Treaty with Japan: with a Focus on the R.O.C Government’s Standpoint,” 295.

^36. Hosoya, The Road to San Francisco Peace, 281–284.

^37. For a translation of the Treaty of Peace with Japan, see the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website https://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/gaiko/treaty/pdfs/B-S38-P2-795_1.pdf.

^38. Inoue, A Political History of the Sino-Japanese Normalization, 1951–1972, 22–23.

^39. Ibid., 24.

^40. Ibid., 25–35.

^41. Ibid., 42.

^42. “General Report on the Conclusion of a Peace Treaty between the Republic of China and Japan.”

^43. Tai ed,1st Series of Important Historical Documents of the Republic of China, 810.

^44. “Note from Yu-qi Xue to the minister and the deputy minister of MOFA.”

^45. “Draft peace treaty between the Republic of China and Japan,”

^46. “Talking point of Draft Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty,”

^47. ”Note dated January 261,952 from MOFA to Premier, Executive Yuan,”

^48. Ibid.

^49. “Letter from George K.C. Yeh to Carl L. Rankin,”

^50. “Memorandum from the Republic of China Foreign Affairs Office to the U.S. Department of State,”

^51. Ibid.

^52. Asada, 448–449.

^53. “The Summary Record of the Meeting of Chinese representative Ye and Japanese Chief of staff Kimura,”

^54. Inoue, work cited above, 42.

^55. “Telegram from Minister Yoshida to Plenipotentiary of Taipei Kawata regarding Negotiations for the The Sino-Japanese Treaty,”

^56. Tai, work cited above, 962.

^57. “Talking point about the written statement of Japanese representative submitted on April 8,”

^58. “Thirteenth Session of the Diet, House of Councillors Committee on Foreign Affairs, No. 33,”

^59. “Thirteenth Session of the Diet, House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, No. 28,”

^60. “Thirteenth Session of the Diet, House of Councillors Committee on Foreign Affairs, No. 43,”

^61. Ibid.

^62. Ibid.

^63. “General Report on the Conclusion of a Peace Treaty between the Republic of China and Japan,” document cited above, 4–7.

^64. Ibid.

^65. “Supplementary document of the Treaty of Peace between the Republic of China and Japan, submitted from the minister of MOFA to Legislative Yuan,”

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 19K20554. This work was supported by the Japan Association for Taiwan Studies under Grant and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan under Grant.

Notes on contributors

Yuki Tsuruzono

Yuki Tsuruzono, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Kagawa University, faculty of law. His research focuses on Taiwan and Overseas Chinese studies, specifically on intertwined problems of regional cold war structure and immigration control policies of post-war Asian states.