Taiwanese Imperial Japan Serviceman A Taiwanese Imperial Japan Serviceman ( , Japanese : 台湾人日本兵 ) is any Taiwanese person who served in the Imperial Japanese Army or Navy during World War II whether as a soldier , a sailor , or in another non - combat capacity . According to statistics provided by Japan ' s Ministry of Health , Labour and Welfare , during the Second Sino - Japanese War and the subsequent World War II , a total of 207 , 183 Taiwanese served in the military of Imperial Japan and 30 , 304 of them were declared killed or missing in action . History . In the fall of 1937 , the Empire of Japan began recruiting Taiwanese into its military ; prior to that , Taiwanese were banned from serving in the military of Imperial Japan . As the war continued , there was an increasing need of translators for conducting military operations in China , and many Taiwanese volunteers were given training courses in Min , Cantonese and Mandarin languages , and served as translators for the Imperial Japanese Army operating in China . The number of Taiwanese serving in this capacity was classified , and remains unknown . In 1942 , after the United States entered the war on the Allied side , Japan lifted its ban on Taiwanese serving in a combat capacity , and began the Army Special Volunteers Act ( ) in Taiwan . This act allowed the residents of Japan ' s overseas territories and colonies to serve in its army , and was first enacted in Korea in 1938 . The first few recruitment drives were limited in scale , with only a few hundred openings available to a relatively large number of applicants . The scale gradually expanded in order to replenish the losses of manpower on the battlefield . A similar program , the Navy Special Volunteers Program ( Japanese : 海軍特別志願兵制度 ) , was established in 1943 in both Taiwan and Korea to allow non - Japanese to serve in the Navy . With Japan ' s manpower depleting , the Japanese government terminated the army and navy special volunteers programs in 1944 and 1945 respectively , replacing them with systematic conscription . Before Japan ' s surrender , there were 126 , 750 non - combatants and 80 , 453 soldiers and sailors serving in Japan ' s military , with roughly 16 , 000 of them having been recruited through volunteer programs . A total of 30 , 304 servicemen , or 15 percent of those recruited and conscripted , were killed or presumed killed in action . Additionally , 173 Taiwanese who served in the Imperial Japanese military were found guilty of Class B and C war crime s . 26 Taiwanese servicemen were sentenced to death , although only two sentences were carried out . Veterans . When asked the reason for serving , many veterans stated that they joined for better treatment for them and for their families . According to interviewed veterans , those who served were given extra food and other rationed articles for their families , and were less likely to be discriminated against by the Japanese government . Another reason , as stated by some veterans , was that they were treated more equally with the Japanese in the military because they " were all soldiers for the Emperor . " After Japan ' s defeat and control of Taiwan ceded to China , many veterans who survived the war were persecuted by the Nationalist government because the Nationalists see them as traitors for serving in the Japanese military . Some veterans later joined the uprising against the Nationalist government that resulted in further oppression . Former President Lee Teng - hui of the Republic of China briefly served as a second lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army in the final months of World War Two . His brother , Lee Teng - chin , was killed in action in the Philippines while serving in the Imperial Japanese Navy and his remains were never recovered . Lee Teng - chin and at least 26 , 000 Taiwanese Imperial Japan servicemen and hundreds of Takasago Volunteers , who were killed or presumed killed in action , were enshrined in the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo , Japan .