The content of the many individual webpages on this website are not intended to incite disputes or clashes with the government officials of the People's Republic of China (PRC) or of the Republic of China (ROC) regarding the legal status of Taiwan. Rather, the purpose of presenting the information which the compilers have collected is to show that under the laws, conventions, precedent, etc. which the U.S. government is legally required to observe, there are strong lines of reasoning to say that the defensive needs of Taiwan should be borne by the United States.
On many webpages, we summarize this as follows:
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The government officials of the PRC and the ROC have their own views regarding the legal status of Taiwan. In order to be fair and objective, this website includes a "Contrasting Opinion" section where the views of ROC officialdom are presented. The views of the PRC officials, in our opinion, can be conveniently summarized with reference to the "successor government theory." In other words, the PRC officials uphold the view that the territoral sovereignty of Taiwan was legally transferred to the ROC upon the Oct. 25, 1945, date of the Japanese surrender ceremonies in Taiwan. Then, with reference to the UN General Assembly's Resolution 2758 of Oct. 25, 1971, it is clear that the PRC has succeeded the ROC as the legal government of China. Therefore, in the modern-day PRC view, Taiwan belongs to China.
However, in reiteration of the above analysis, the compilers believe that under the laws, conventions, precedent, etc. which the U.S. government is legally required to observe, the Taiwan question is an issue left over from WWII in the Pacific. As a result of the defeat of Japan, Taiwan was not "returned" to China (either the ROC or the PRC), and in fact remained under the legal control of the U.S. military. Therefore, the defensive needs of Taiwan should be formulated with reference to the "common defense" clause of the U.S. Constitution, and hence are the responsibility of the U.S. Dept. of Defense (DOD).