Unspeakable Fraud: China's Fake Claim To Taiwan

As 2026 opens, Taiwan has moved beyond a regional flashpoint. Now it's become arguably the definitive arena for potential China-U.S. hostile military action. Many believe that would constitute a threat to global stability.

China's present-day ownership claim to Taiwan is at the heart of the matter.

According to China Daily, President Xi Jinping stated in his 2026 New Year address, "We Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a bond of blood and kinship. The reunification of our motherland, a trend of the times, is unstoppable!"

But two of his claims are counterfactual: First is his premise that "blood and kinship" provide a bond between China and Taiwan. Second is use of the term "reunification."

A bond of blood and kinship? A blood or DNA connection is one thing. But a feeling of kinship is something else. A 2024 Pew Research study found that over two-thirds of Taiwan adults identify as primarily Taiwanese; three percent identify as Chinese. Less than half feel any emotional attachment to China, and even that is influenced greatly by views of the older generation. Indeed, the island's original inhabitants were Austronesian peoples, predating later Han Chinese migration from the mainland.

Reunification? Logically reunification must follow a parted state of unification. The People's Republic of China has never been united with Taiwan. Since the late 1800s Taiwan was subject to Japanese sovereignty and rule. It had been ceded to Japan in perpetuity in a mutual treaty by the Qing Dynasty. Later, during World War II, Taiwanese soldiers fought on the Japanese side against the Allies, including China.

Nonetheless, China's reunification claim does have a historical association. But it is with a fraud, not a fact.

There is a largely unspoken story that explains that fraud. The setting is China, 1945, the end of World War II in the Pacific. A formal military surrender to the "Allied Powers" had been accepted aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay by U.S. General Douglas MacArthur. That was September 2, 1945.

The surrender was valid not only for Japan proper, but also for its external territories. Surrender ceremonies on different dates took place in these locations as well. They were connected to the disarming of millions of Japanese troops stationed in those territories.

For the Taiwan ceremony, for instance, MacArthur ordered Chiang Kai-shek to accept the surrender on that island on behalf of the Allied Powers. This duty was mandated in the document "Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, General Order No. One". That order also provided for the subsequent military occupation in the name of the Allied Command.

Chiang was a natural for the job. During the war Chiang had held a prestigious position along with Eisenhower, Churchill, and Stalin as one of the Big Four allied military leaders. He, of course, was president of China, and served as the Supreme Commander of the China Theater. He was addressed as "General Chiang Kai-shek".

So what's the alleged fraud all about? It took place on October 25, 1945. It was a monumental day. The surrender was accepted per Order No. 1. The military occupation ordered by the Allied Command commenced.

But then something surprising happened: Chiang broke ranks from the Allies and annexed the Allied occupied territory of Taiwan on behalf of his own country, the Republic of China. The island surrender and the annexation happened in the same room on the very same day according to George Kerr, a U.S. military witness.

This all ran completely counter to Chiang's delegated authority from the Allied Command. After accepting the local surrender, his duty was simply to be somewhat like a property manager for the island, not an owner.

In short, Chiang's specific fraud was this: He began to represent Taiwan as sovereign Chinese territory, which it was not. This was a flat misrepresentation. Chiang had made a completely false claim. He misled the world and opened the door for China's fake claim to Taiwan, the unspeakable fraud.

Some observers point out that his deception was even in violation of the Hague Convention: A military occupier is a temporary administrator, not an owner.

What's more, neither the military occupation nor Chiang's annexation changed the sovereignty status of Taiwan. It was still Japanese, pending a yet-to-be-produced peace treaty. Such a treaty would be the competent authority to deal with issues of sovereignty.

Today there is great irony in Chiang's fraud.

It is that the People's Republic of China, Chiang's nemesis, now uses Chiang's claimed annexation as a basis for the PRC's claim to Taiwan. The PRC recognizes Chiang's fraudulent annexation as if it were a legitimate act. Accordingly when the PRC defeated the ROC in 1949, it considered Taiwan to be a legitimate acquisition of the revolution.

As you can imagine, this creates quite a dilemma. And it's a dangerous one.

As a result the island of Taiwan presently faces serious threats. There is now a situation wherein Taiwanese people must live under a threat of invasion from the PRC, and of being the possible venue for a battle of surrogacy between the PRC and the United States.

That's nothing new. Past world headlines have framed the story and America's reaction this way:

"Biden Says US Would Defend Taiwan if China Invaded." --Voice of America, May 23, 2022

"China says it reserves right to use force over Taiwan." --Aljazeera, October 15, 2022

"China speeding up plans to seize Taiwan, Blinken says." --Washington Post, October 18, 2022

As recently as late December 2025, President Xi Jinping has been conducting notable military maneuvers around Taiwan. They're said to be a prelude to an inevitable takeover of the island -- a "reunification", as Xi calls it.

The present Trump administration seems largely to be ducking the issue with relatively noncommittal statements.

Meanwhile, however, according to NPR on December 18, 2025, there is this: "U.S. announces massive package of arms sales to Taiwan valued at more than $10 billion."

NPR goes on: "Taiwan's Defense Ministry in a statement Thursday expressed gratitude to the U.S. over the arms sale, which it said would help Taiwan maintain 'sufficient self-defense capabilities.'"

Given China's already menacing military maneuvers around Taiwan, Trump's military reaction can be viewed as an escalation. A less-risky approach might be better for all concerned.

According to my analysis, this is a situation that offers great opportunity for a safe diplomatic solution.

The fraudulent claim to Taiwan that is being made by the PRC seems to be widely unrecognized as such in the news coverage of the matter. Perhaps it is even unrecognized in diplomatic circles as well.

That presents the opportunity to pull the rug out from under China's claim to Taiwan.

China is on a clear course in search of a more significant role in world affairs. At the 2017 Party Congress, while speaking about the future, President Xi Jinping proclaimed, "It will be an era that sees China moving closer to center stage and making greater contributions to mankind."

Being characterized as a scoundrel-state exploiting widespread ignorance about the real status of Taiwan would seem to conflict with that aspiration. Certainly, the United States has the capability to acquaint the world with the PRC-Taiwan fraud. That could be a significant and confidential negotiating point -- one aimed at reshaping Beijing's strategic assumptions rather than publicly contesting its narrative.

This would require a stark reevaluation of the situation by the Trump administration. The choice is between the present course of military escalation on one hand, and using a truthful redefinition of the situation surrounding Taiwan on the other. What will be the administration's chosen direction?