American Hainan and Taiwan

How can America take control of the islands of Hainan and Taiwan? What would be its effects if those islands were states?

Taiwan has had a small Annexationist movement that could potentially be a starting point; Hainan is just too close to Mainland China to remain really separate.

America, historically, didn't try to carve up China into colonial pieces. Perhaps, instead of an open door, some kind of "open season" like situation happens to China, and the Chinese wind up getting partitioned into various national pieces. The clear winner in such an arrangement would be Japan, which will almost certainly get support for "Manchuko" later on if Nationalist China doesn't exist at all.

Still, America taking territory in China would mean no Open Door, and a "Scramble for China" from colonial powers.
 
After World War II perhaps? If I recall Hainan and Taiwan both were lost position Nationalist strongholds. The US could feasibly occupy them to protect them from the communists.
 
America gets Spanish Taiwan during the Spanish/American war in 1898.
As Spain held Taiwan in 1895, Japan took Hainan instead.
US take Hainan in spring of 1945, during WW2. Due to problems, the US continues to hold the Island.

In 1946 the Philippines become the States of Luzon and Mandano,
During the 50's a statehood movement in Taiwan and Hainan gains traction.
In early 1960's the two are admitted as States.
 
I remember hearing that Taiwanese people were given a poll at one point,and more than half of the population voted to join the USA rather than Mainland China.
 

Hendryk

Banned
America gets Spanish Taiwan during the Spanish/American war in 1898.
As Spain held Taiwan in 1895, Japan took Hainan instead.
And how does Spain get Taiwan in the first place? That requires a POD in the 17th century at least. In OTL Taiwan was under Dutch domination when the Ming loyalists took it over in 1662, and from that point on until 1895 the only other serious Western attempt to claim it was by France in 1885.
 
What you really need is for Courbet to take Formosa, the Pescadores, and possibly Hainan in 1885, then for the US and France to get in a war post-1900, when the US can conceivably defeat France in a naval war.

Hainan in 1885 is probably too much of a stretch, since to even get Formosa the French had to offer the British Tonkin (butterfly fun there!). Assume the OTL rejected offer gets accepted, and France grabs Hainan as its sphere of influence during the 1897 (IIRC?) push to grab ports. Make the Boxer Rebellion nastier, and have the Europeans agree to divide up China in fact as well as in name so that you can have American Hainan and American Taiwan as opposed to "American-occupied" Taiwan and Hainan.

Now you need a war between the US and France...the Pericardis incident in Morocco in 1904 was as close as France and the United States got to being antagonistic towards each other, and the US could conceivably beat France in a naval war at this time, especially in the Far East (where the Americans had 3 battleships to none for the French).

Of course, your butterflies are flapping pretty heavily at this time (better French-British diplomatic cooperation in the 1880's, less Japanese expansion/greater French expansion in the Far East, greedier Great Powers in China, results of Franco-American war on WWI Entente, etc).
 
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