Japan–Taiwan relations

After the Japan–PRC Joint Communiqué in 1972, Japan no longer recognizes the Republic of China as the sole official government of China. However, Japan has maintained non-governmental, working-level relations with Taiwan.[1]

Japanese-Taiwanese relations

Japan
Taiwan
Diplomatic mission
Japan–Taiwan Exchange AssociationTaipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan
Members from the Iwate prefectural government thank Taiwan after the 2011 earthquakes
Tokyo Tower lit up with Taiwan's national colors, to celebrate the friendship between Japan and Taiwan

History

Early

In the 1600s, there was considerable trade between Japan and Taiwan. The Dutch colonized Taiwan as a base for trade with Japan in 1624.

Kingdom of Tungning & Taiwan under Qing rule
Main articles: Kingdom of Tungning and Taiwan under Qing rule

During the Kingdom of Tungning era (1662–83), Japan bought deerskin, sugar and silk from Taiwan and sold precious metal, porcelain, armors and cotton cloth. Japanese money could be used in Taiwan during that period and Japanese merchants were permitted to live in Keelung.[2][3][4]

In 1874, Japanese troops invaded southern Taiwan to attack aboriginal tribes, in revenge for the killing of 54 Ryukyuan sailors in 1871.

Taiwan under Japanese rule
Main articles: Taiwan under Japanese rule and History of Taiwan (1945–present)

Japan's victory over Qing dynasty in the First Sino-Japanese War resulted in the 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki, in which Taiwan was ceded to Japan. Taiwan was then ruled by the Empire of Japan until 1945. After Japan's surrender at the end of World War II, Taiwan was reunited by the Republic of China.

Establishment, early 1950s
Japan–Taiwan Exchange Association in Taipei
Association of Taiwan-Japan Relations in Tokyo

After the war between China and Japan, during the occupation of Japan, Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida (officially the last prime minister under the royal decree by the Japanese emperor), intended to approach the newly established People's Republic of China economically and diplomatically. However, the US rectified this initiative and threatened to boycott the 1951 Treaty of San Francisco if Japan did not engage with KMT-led Nationalist China (now Taiwan) and the later formation of the Treaty of Taipei (a parallel treaty to the Treaty of San Francisco between Japan and the two Chinas that were excluded). The US required Japan to accept diplomatic relations with the KMT-led Nationalist China; otherwise, sovereignty to the country would not be restored, effectively maintaining war with the US and keeping it under US military occupation.

By taking everything into consideration, in the midst of the US creating its containment policy in Asia, Prime Minister Yoshida shifted his stance with regard to the US administration (to then-US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles), as detailed in the Yoshida Letter,[5] to negotiate a peace treaty with Taipei instead. Also as a result of ratification of the Treaty of San Francisco by the US Congress and Senate, he officially ended Japan's status as an imperial power, officially relinquishing of the island of Taiwan and Pescadores. These actions were drafted into Article 9 of the new liberal democratic Japanese Constitution which dismantled the country's military capabilities to declare war on another country with the reservation of self-defense limitations and later stipulated the Security Treaty Between the United States and Japan, which was also passed and enacted by the majority members of the new Japanese Diet with subsequent security treaties in the post-war era.

With the eruption of the Korean War and US and UN intervention in that war, diplomatic relations between the governments of Japan and KMT-led Nationalist China were established following the termination of US occupation of Japan in 1952. Japan led the logistics and artillery production/manufacturing industry to support the US in the Korean War, which acted as the major stimulus for the revival of its economy, especially in heavy and light industry, soon evident in the Japanese post-war economic miracle. On April 28, 1952, a formal peace treaty was concluded between the Japan and what is now Taiwan, as the former refrained from recognizing the People's Republic of China at that time. In Article 10 of the Treaty of Taipei (Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty) that retrospects:

for the purposes of the present Treaty, nationals of the Republic of China shall be deemed to include all the inhabitants and former inhabitants of (Taiwan (Formosa)) and Penghu (the Pescadores) and their descendants who are of Chinese nationality in accordance with the laws and regulations which have been or may hereafter be enforced by the Republic of China in Taiwan (Formosa) and Penghu (the Pescadores); and juridical persons of the Republic of China shall be deemed to include all those registered under the laws and regulations which have been or may hereafter be enforced by the Republic of China in Taiwan (Formosa) and Penghu (the Pescadores).

Bilaterally, Japan had, and still has from members of the Japan Business Federation, strong trading ties with Taipei. Japan played a key financial role of governmental loans to the ROC government to help with the burgeoning country's economic development on various levels before the Nixon Shock[6][7][8] and the severing of ties between the two governments.

In 1958, the Sino-Ryukyuan Economic and Cultural Association was established at Naha, Okinawa, which was the strategic headquarters of the US Armed Forces in the region. In 1972, Okinawa was returned to Japan by the U.S., but the association remained as an institution to foster relations, dialogue and academic exchange between Japan, Okinawa and Taiwan.

Joint Communiqué, 1972

Regarding the One-China policy, Japan had been an earnest ally to Taiwan, however, global politics pushed Japan to overturn its position. As the attempt to belligerently recover mainland China failed and faded and the Taipei-based government was expelled, voted out of UN in a General Assembly vote, by majority UN member states via United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758, soon after US President Richard Nixon's visit to People's Republic of China in 1972[9] and the release of the "Joint Communiqué of the United States of America and the People's Republic of China," Japan's Liberal Democratic Party-majority government led by Kakuei Tanaka decided to establish formal diplomatic relations with the PRC. Before this, Japan had already had robust non-governmental trading relations with the PRC without formal diplomatic recognition.

As a pre-condition for building ties with the PRC, Japan abrogated and made defunct the Treaty of Taipei in relation to then non-recognized Taiwan polity. According to the "1972 Japan–China Joint Communiqué", the Japanese government fully understood and respected the position of the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) that Taiwan was an inalienable territory of the PRC, and it firmly maintained its stand under Article 8 of the Potsdam Proclamation,[10] which stated "The terms of the Cairo Declaration shall be carried out and Japanese sovereignty shall be limited to the islands of Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū, Shikoku and such minor islands as we determine."

Statements and principles set in the Joint Communiqué of 1972 were written in the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the People's Republic of China in 1978. Japan and the PRC agreed to continue abiding by the treaty when former Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe visited Beijing on 8 October 2006.

Japan–China Joint Declaration, 1998

In 1998, Japan and the PRC signed the Japan–China Joint Declaration on Building a Partnership of Friendship and Cooperation for Peace and Development that stated that Japan was to continue to side with the PRC on the One-China policy, that it "continues to maintain its stand on the Taiwan issue as set forth in the Joint Communiqué of the Government of Japan and the Government of the People's Republic of China and reiterates its understanding that there is only one China." Japan reiterated it will maintain its exchanges with Taiwan, however in a private and regional forms.

Recent initiatives, 2005–present
Member of the House of Representative of Japan Keiji Furuya and President Tsai Ing-wen in Taiwan on May 20, 2016.

Japan grants Taiwanese passport holders visa exemption for 90 days.[11] This rule became effective on 20 September 2005, in line with a move aimed at attracting more tourists to Japan. Jiro Akama, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and Communication was the highest ranking cabinet official since 1972 to visit Taiwan on March 25 to celebrate the tourist event and promote Japanese regional revitalization,[12] amid with the ban of Japanese agricultural exports to Taiwanese public.[13]

In the press conference on 31 January 2006, Deputy Press Secretary Tomohiko Taniguchi announced that, in a speech a year earlier, Minister of Foreign Affairs Tarō Asō had expressed concern regarding peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait on the basis of the 1972 Japan–PRC Joint Communiqué. The announcement reiterated the Japanese government's position "that we do not take a policy of two Chinas or one China and one Taiwan."

In 2020 Japan received donations of equipment and supplies as part of Taiwan's medical diplomacy in response to the COVID-19 epidemic. More than 2 million face masks were delivered in mid April 2020.[14]

Fishery demarcation, 1996–present

Japan insists, on the basis of United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,[15] that Japan is privileged on the fishery demarcation to the southern tip of its surrounding territorial waters, whereas Taiwan asserts that it participates as a fishing entity in the Regional Fisheries Management Organisation on the basis of United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement, such as the admission of IATTC,[16] that also applies on the issue of fishery demarcation with Japan.[17][18] There were sixteen fishery conferences in total between the two stakeholders, Interchange Association, Japan[19] and Association of East Asian Relations of Taiwan,[20][21] on fishery demarcation from 1996 to 2009, and the dispute of exclusive economic zone between Japan[22][23] and Taiwan [24] is still not resolved pertaining to future negotiations between the two sides.[25][26][27][28][29] Despite this dispute, the two sides reached a fisheries resource management agreement on April 10, 2013.[30][31][32][33]

On the official international tie between the two governments, think tanks from Taiwan is a member of Asian Development Bank Institute, which is located in Kasumigaseki Building in Chiyoda, Tokyo.[34][35]

Guang Hua Student Dormitory lawsuit

After 40 years of strenuous effort on the trial by the ROC government on the Public international law of Kyoto-based ROC government property of Guang Hua Student Dormitory against the international legal claim by the PRC government, according to Article 81 [36] of the Japanese Constitution, the Supreme Court of Japan judged in 2007 that the property belongs to the PRC government on the basis that Japan recognizes PRC instead of ROC (Taiwan) after 1972.[37] ROC is considered as a Rump State after 1949. ROC is a member of Property Rights Alliance.[38]

Post 2011 Tōhoku earthquake

A few days after Japan was struck by the Tōhoku earthquake in March 2011, the Taiwanese government pledged to donate 100 million NTD to assist Japan.[39] Many Taiwanese citizens and news media also followed suit and urged people to donate to Japan.[40][41] By May 2012, Taiwan had donated up to 6.6 billion NTD from the government and private donations combined.[42] By March 2013, donations had reached 260.64 million USD, which is the highest amount from any nation despite only having 23 million people.[43] At this time, it is known that 90 percent of the amount came from private donations.[43] Such number of donations have been the result of Japan's aid to Taiwan when a powerful earthquake hit Taiwan hard in September 21, 1999, sending a 145-person rescue team and donating 37 million in aid of the catastrophe.[44] Taiwan's donations assisted Fukushima in performing several vital reconstructions, which include rebuilding schools and hospitals.[43][45]

Despite Taiwan being the nation that donated the most amount of money to Japan in response to the earthquake, the government didn't publicly thank Taiwan along with other nations. The Japanese government placed ads in multiple nations to show gratitude of the donations, but not Taiwan. This prompted Japanese citizens to thank Taiwan individually. Japanese designer Maiko Kissaka started a fundraiser on April 19, 2020 in an attempt to place ads on two newspapers to show gratitude to the Taiwanese people for donations.[46] This started a series of attempts from individuals and organizations to thank Taiwan for the donations across the next few years.[47][42][48][49][50] A notable organization named Arigatou Taiwan was created for the sole purpose of thanking Taiwan and planned to hold an event each year starting on 2012, and managed to include several earthquake survivors at the event in 2015.[51] In 2018, local governments which were affected by the earthquake started fundraisers to show gratitude to Taiwan's help back at 2011.

The Japanese government didn't hold any public activities to thank Taiwan at the first few years after the earthquake, and wrote a letter in private to the Taiwanese government to express gratitude instead.[46] However, starting in 2014, the government started holding events publicly in Taiwan to express gratitude, starting from the governments of six prefectures in Japan collaborated for a four-day event in Taipei, Taiwan, aimed to repay the generosity during Japan's earthquake.[52] During the 5th anniversary event of the 2011 earthquake in Taiwan, the ambassador to Taiwan from Japan described Taiwan as a "true friend" and further stated "With the gratitude for the generosity of our friends in Taiwan, we vow to try our best to strengthen the relationship between Japan and Taiwan."[53] Japan also stated that it's donations of 1.2 million USD to Taiwan due to a powerful earthquake hitting southern Taiwan is an attempt to repay Taiwan's generosity a few years ago.[53] In 2019, the 8th anniversary of the earthquake was held, in which the ambassador to Taiwan from Japan stated that "There was already a special bond between Japan and Taiwan before the disaster" and that "The northeastern Japan earthquake made [Japan] see it more clearly." These statement contradict what was suggested from Taiwanese news papers which stated that the donations Taiwan contributed was a turning point between the relations of the two nations.[54] However, it is undeniable that Taiwan and Japan's relations have strengthened a lot due to the exchanges after the catastrophe, both on a governmental and private level. In August, 2019, The Japan Times published an article "Taiwan's democracy is worth defending", which is a proof of the improved relations as such controversial articles supporting Taiwan are rarely seen on large non-Taiwanese news media.[55]

Due to the closer relations Japan and Taiwan has after the catastrophic event, tourism bloomed between both nations. Japanese tourism to Taiwan rose by 19.9 percent in 2011, which comes with an increase of nearly 50 percent exchange revenue due to this change.[56]

Education
Taipei Japanese School

Overseas Chinese schools, like those in many other countries, are administratively and financially supported by the Taiwan (R.O.C.) government's Overseas Community Affairs Council. In Japan, before 2003,[57][58][59] Overseas Chinese School graduates did not qualify for Japanese college entrance exam. The future task lies on the legalization of the Overseas Chinese School by the Japanese Government and international educational agency accreditation (such as International Baccalaureate, Cambridge International Examinations and Advanced Placement accreditation [60]), or similar international recognition of Taiwan's education, for qualifying the legal international status of Overseas Chinese School in Japan. Those supported by the ROC are:

Japan operates three nihonjin gakkō (overseas Japanese schools operated by a Japanese association) on the island of Taiwan:

Culture

On 21 April 2010, Taiwan established the Taipei Cultural Center in Tokyo, Japan and was subsequently renamed Taiwan Cultural Center. On 27 November 2017, Japan established the Japanese Cultural Center in Taipei, Taiwan. The Taiwanese Wave has also sparked Japanese interest in Taiwan and Taiwanese pop culture.

See also

References
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Further reading
Library resources about
Japan–Taiwan relations
  • Cohen, J 1973 The Dynamics of China's Foreign Relations, p. 50-56, Harvard University Press, Cambridge
  • Dreyer, June Teufel. "The Japan-Taiwan Relationship: An Unstable Stability." Asia Policy 26.1 (2019): 161–166. online
  • Iriye, A. and Cohen, W 1989 The United States and Japan in the Postwar World, p. 21-34, The University Press of Kentucky
  • Hu, S. ‘Japan and the Cross-Taiwan Strait Conflict,’ Journal of Chinese Political Science, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Fall 2006): pp. 83–103.
  • Schonberger, H 1989 Aftermath of War - Americans and the Remaking of Japan, 1945–1952, p. 275-285, The Kent State University Press,
  • Wilkins, Thomas, "Taiwan-Japan Relations in an Era of Uncertainty" Asia Policy, Vol. 13, (January 2012), pp. 113–132.
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