After Japan's defeat, Taiwan is placed under the administration of the Republic of China. The ROC treats this as restored sovereignty; the post-war peace treaties that followed conspicuously did not specify to whom Japan's renounced title passed.
Why it mattersThe legal ambiguity created in 1945 has never been resolved, and every competing legal argument about Taiwan's status — from Beijing, Taipei and third parties alike — still traces back to what these documents did and did not say.