AHC: Make Taiwan a U.S. Protectorate

Sabot Cat

Sabot Cat

Banned
Your challenge is to make Taiwan a U.S. protectorate. By protectorate I mean that Taiwan would be considered a part of the U.S.'s territory but would be near completely self-governing (or it could mean that Taiwan would enter a free state association with the United States as Micronesia or the the Marshall Islands have). If it's (somehow) too easy to do this with a renegotiated Treaty of San Francisco, I'd recommend a Point of Divergence after 1979.
 
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marcus_aurelius

IMO anything post-1979 is basically ASB territory, and the Treaty of San Francisco is really, really pushing it. The way I see it, the best way you can bring about the premise as it was laid out in the OP is some form of Japanese-American conflict (say, Russo-Japanese War got bigger and somehow dragged the US in) in the early- to mid-20th century that would allow American troops to capture Formosa (as it was then known to the West). You'll also need an American public that would support another foreign adventure in some faraway island.

Marc A

P.S. If we're allowed to bring in ASBs, I would use a certain flying city under the control of one Zachary Hale Comstock... :D
 

Enigmajones

AlienMoonBat said:
Your challenge is to make Taiwan a U.S. protectorate. By protectorate I mean that Taiwan would be considered a part of the U.S.'s territory but would be near completely self-governing (or it could mean that Taiwan would enter a free state association with the United States as Micronesia or the the Marshall Islands have). If it's (somehow) too easy to do this with a renegotiated Treaty of San Francisco, I'd recommend a Point of Divergence after 1979.
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I was about to say, Taiwan essentially is a US protectorate.
 

lycan

Have China go Communist early after expelling the Japanese, then have the U.S. liberate Taiwan from Japanese rule in WW2.
 
Tallest Skil

Tallest Skil

Banned
asupackman said:
I was going to say the same thing, Taiwan might not technically be classified as a US protectorate but we pretty much guarantee their independence from the mainland.
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And with a growing number of youngn's rallying around the interpretation of the treaty as meaning the US has the only legal international claim on the island…
 

birdboy2000

Banned
OTL, the US administered much of the former Japanese empire, including Okinawa prefecture, as essential protectorates after World War II. If China didn't want Taiwan back, or the US wasn't willing to let China have it, such a status would probably be the natural postwar arrangement.

It does, however, seem unlikely for a Chinese government to be willing to not reclaim Taiwan, which did belong to China until the first Sino-Japanese War. Maybe an earlier communist takeover leading the US to hold onto it? (though OTL America didn't really care about Mao until the Korean War) Or a failed northern expedition leaving "China" divided between warlord cliques? (Though in that case Japan might not feel a need to pick a fight with the US it can't win, preferring instead to gobble provinces up one by one ala Manchuria)
 
Sabot Cat

Sabot Cat

Banned
I like the discussion thus far! You all are doing well with the challenge, methinks.

Tallest Skil said:
And with a growing number of youngn's rallying around the interpretation of the treaty as meaning the US has the only legal international claim on the island…
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Is there really widespread Taiwanese support for the Republic of China to enter a Compact of Free Association with the US?
 

EternalCynic

Tallest Skil said:
And with a growing number of youngn's rallying around the interpretation of the treaty as meaning the US has the only legal international claim on the island…
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I wonder where you got this impression.

In any case, any claim the US might have had to Taiwan was made dead letter a long time ago.
 
Aozhouhuaren

Aozhouhuaren

Banned
How hard would it really be anytime throughout the late 1800s through to the 1950s? Not sarcasm, genuinely curious.

Of course I'd think any major American action regarding Taiwan's political status in the post WW2 era would be downright scandalous and could have caused another war with China. But I think CIA schemes would be the best bet =. It's just that smarty pants Jiang Jnr caught a whiff of their plans in time in OTL and exposed them. Perhaps Jiang Jnr is less vigilant and suspicious of the Americans, the CIA successfully generates internal dissent, gets rid of Jiang father and son, replaces them with a puppet leader just like it did throughout so much of the developing world during that time.

As for something much earlier, was American colonisation before Shimonoseki possible? Was there even interest for it?
 
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