WI The ROC had asked USA for Okinawa

No, they still thought of themselves as Ryukyan and many still do. Anyways, the Americans originally thought that it could be their Hong Kong during the Opening of Japan. Didn't work out that way.

Just after the war was certainly a low point in (mainland) Japanese-Ryukyan relations. However, even if they would have been happy not being a part of Japan, why would they be any happier about being a part of a Chinese empire? Besides, the Allies justified dissolving the Japanese Empire as merely giving back what had been taken from China, Russia, etc. You can't "give back" the Ryukyu Islands to China, because they were never Chinese. The Allies were not supposed to be in the business of fighting the war for territorial gains.

You might be able to get away with an dependent Okinawa, especially if the fighting is more prolonged there. Of course, this would mean much less of the islands would be available for US military use. If you start making the Ryukyu Islands independent, though, you will have people in Taiwan and Vietnam asking why they aren't offered a post-colonial independence option (plebiscite), as well. It makes the issues involved in redrawing the map in East Asia even harder than they were already.
 
I don't know about the ROC, but the PRC was bitterly opposed to the return of Okinawa to Japanese authority (until the US and Japan made overtures in 1972, and there was the prospect of an anti-Soviet pact). If I recall correctly, they kept making demands that Okinawa should be made independent.

But I don't think they have much in the way of an actual territorial claim, any more than they would have had over, say Korea. Both were tributaries of China, after all, but Okinawa had dual tributary ties, with Japan and China. I don't think the Okinawans themselves would take any more kindly to being part of China than to being part of Japan, especially since ties to Japan - even before their annexation - were generally stronger than those with China.

I reckon they'd be squarely refused by the US. With a more violent Battle of Okinawa, and more oppressive rule by the Japanese before the battle, you might get more pro-independence activities from the Ryukyuans. If the Republic of China can stamp its authority on Taiwan more firmly after the war - and beat the Communists - then it might be more proactive in securing the various islands near Taiwan. But I doubt that they'd be able to lay a claim as far as Ryukyu.
 
iirc the island was under de facto military control on the USA until the 70's anyway. they arn't going to let such a nice slice of real estate go to someone they couldn't trust/control.
 
Asking for and subsequently occupying Okinawa would put undue strain on the ROC's meager military capabilities. As it is, they have to defend and fortify that string of islands in the Taiwan Strait, repelling the occasional Communist landings while the West brings its diplomatic pressure to bear.
 
ROC might have, but really had its hands full in the mainland. Post 1945 retrocession day, in Taiwan they steadily squeezed out any and all Japanese they could find. Post 2-28 incident killed off those Chinese who had deep links to the Japanese, unless they had family in Japan or farther afield where as they were merely under house arrest and heavily watched. What does this mean for the scenario? Islands full of more Japanese than Chinese people is hardly a paying situation. I do not see it. No trade value either. Maybe oil found underneath/asb? MacArthur would have been amenable to his pal Chaing, but US as a whole had enough post 1945. FDR said he had been 'vamped' by Mrs. Chaing (Mei Ling), though he died soon afterwards. The magic mushrooms/bag of tricks were running out of effectiveness about this time, so we need an earlier POD. This bargaining chip would have had little usefulness, and as it was Taiwan itself was listed in Cairo agreements as for the benefit of the local people -- chortle -- and in 2-28 three years later Chaing sent a note saying Kill them all, keep it quiet. The US also paid heavily in blood for that land, unlike Taiwan.
 
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Okinawa was held by the Americans until the 1970s in any case simple because of the air bases and Marine installations there used to keep an eye on the Chinese and Russians without having to go through Tokyo all the time. They wouldn't give it back to the ROC before, and after the 2-28 incident, the chances of the ROC getting dick all from the Americans are very small. There was nothing good about that mess, and as a result Okinawa is probably going to end up back in Japan's hands.
 
what people forget about the poster's original premise is where the POD is. If after a US invasion of Okinawa, you are treading on thin air. But
if in another TL we have no invasion of Okinawa, such as an invasion of
Taiwan (as was suggested by Admiral King or someone like that in 1944 according to the Time Life Series in 1944 at an all service conference, to which
MacArthur howled that we were giving into "heathen" Chinese instead
of invading the Philippines). Then the chances do get worthy of respect.

With an early enough POD, nothing is ASB or even unlikely. Want true
magic words and free money? Reinvent the laws of physics, with
a POD before the big bang ...
 
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