Evening star., 1949-12-15
Wants FormOsa To Be Free
From Control by N0n-Form0sans


Wants Formosa To Be Free
From Control by Nom -Formosans
To the Editor OF The Star:
The question of what the United States
can do If the Chinese Communists attempt
military conquest Of Formosa, which ac-
cording to the press is causing much nall
chewing in the State Department. is negli-
g1ble IN comparison to the legal and moral
question Of what we cannot afford not to do.
Legally Formosa was a part Of the Japa-
nese empire. which ceased to exist in 1945
by unconditional surrender, making its peo-
pie individually and collectively our wards
until new government or governments
shall be established by treaty We have
the same rights over Formosa and the same
obligations to It's inhabitants as to the
Loochoo islands and their inhabitants, or
for that matter to the japanese main islands
themselves and their inhabitants-the same
right to garrison and police, the same OBJ
legation to see that its people are allowed
eventually the management Of their own
affairs. and in the meantime are preserved
free from the fear of conquest by great
and greedy military powers alien to them
and abhorrent to them.
Historically, Formosa never was an inte-
gral part Of China" For 400 years the
Portuguese. Spanish and Dutch and French,
and most particularly the Japanese. claimed
at different times or simultaneously suzer-
ainty over parts or all Of the island, with
nominal claims also from the Dragon
Throne. against the opposition Of a people
who never admitted any Of those claims,
except perforce in the last SO years. Over
those centuries the island served as home
for its aboriginal forest inhabitants,
stronghold for pirates marrying Chinese port
cities, refuge for japanese Christians
driven out Of their home islands, a new
land Of opportunity for Annoy and Can
tonese emigrants from the onerous tyran-
nies Of the Chinese government, In the
same way that America served as refuge
Tor our own ancestors.
Settlers in Island Left China.
Those emigrants from the mainland left
China-they didn't bring it with them.
They wanted to leave China, and who can
blame them? They became a people apart.
If the Nipponese and the Mandarians and
three or four European nations claimed
them or tried to bite chunks out of them,
that didn't make the claims legal nor the
people happy. Fifty-four years ago. longer
ago than Cuba was wrested from Spain by
the intense desire of its own people, 13
years longer ago than Bulgaria became an
Independent nation. almost twice as long
u,
Poland and Finland became nations the
last nebulous claim to suzerainty over the
island was surrendered by the amorphous
Dragon Throne to the now defunct Sun God
throne, whose claim was equally old and
equally valid or invalid. At the wars end
1t belonged no more to China than Bulgaria
belonged to Turkey or Finland to the Rus
sian empire or Cuba to Spain. Not even
so much, since no Chinese military posses
sion and overlordsfip ever had been actually
maintained prior to the japanese posses
sion.
It is true that in boon moment and with
an inadequate reading of history, our late
Great Giver Of all gifts promised Formosa
to Chang at Cairo. An island as removed
from the Chinese mainland as Cuba from
our own, with population Of so or 80 per
cent greater than that free and independent
nation and ethnically no more Chinese than
Cuba Is Spanish and no more willing ever
to be subject to mainland Chinese govern
ment, Fascist, Communist or imperial. than
Cuba would be willing to be subject to Spain
again or to ourselves, would have been
handed fover to the Japanese empire as q
free gift by some great Hitlerian giver Of
all gifts If the war had turned out otherwise.
Our Great Giver promised Formosa to
Chang, though it wasn't quite his to give.
But it still remains legally an item of the
defunct japanese empire until its future has
been established by treaty. Our friends and
Formosa's neighbors, the citizens Of the
Philippines might feel that they had some
right to word about it, So might the
Anzacs and the Ja2anese. At wars end
Chang put In his cruel squeezing gover-
nors In haste, without legal right, to misr,lle
these people more savagely than even the
hard yet efficient japanese had done. But
Chang is dead now, q walking corpse; and
the Communists are not his heirs at-law,
since there was no law. If it was given to
him, to his Marking government, to have
and hold, it does not belong to the first
conner when he can no longer have nor hold.
It does not belong to the men of Jehol,
or Harbin, or Of places farther West, by
virtue Of conquest Of the Chinese mainland
mass. It belongs to itself. It is an island.
a piece of geography: but it is also 100000
people. And you can't give people away.
Americans Not Willing To Compromise.
The American people do not exist, the
American dead did not die, to turn over a
nation Of 6,000, 900 people (whom they have
freed with their own blood and treasure
from the harsh rule Of the Japanese) to
conquest by fire and sword Of an equally
alien and equally hated conqueror. We do
not exist, our dead did not die, to drink
oolong tea by permission Of Pekinese war
lords ana the Snall-eyeo men OF the hrem-
lin, nor to give them monopoly Of the
worlds camphor gathered by half-starved
slaves in the Forrnosan forests knowing
that with each sip we take and each head
ache we get we are adding to their war
chest with tribute from many sources more.
# the dead hand releases what was un-
Justly given it. then it is manumission
by act of God; and let the bound be free.
There is one thing to do about Formosa,
and one thing only, for our honor. That
is to state, in unequivocal language, that
the final suzerainty OF Formosa remains to
be determined by peace treaty with Japan,
that we are withdrawing all recognition
from the Chang government in Formosa
giving no recognition to any Chinese gov
ernment there nor anywhere), and that we
are sending an American force from the
main japanese islands to take over police
protection of the island, to prepare for q