the legality of US martial law on Formosa through the ROC Taiwan authorities

Subject: re FRUS on military government forms and the legality of US martial law on Formosa through the ROC Taiwan authorities

If martial law is direct military rule over domestic territory, and thus is military government on one's own territory, then military government outside one's own territory can also be termed martial law.

These are distinctions without a difference, military necessity and the presumption of maximal preservation of existing laws and protection of rights is the standard by which lawfulness of military government abroad or martial law at home are measured.

The US governs Formosa through her captive trustee in situ, the ROC "Taiwan" authorities [which state.gov Treaties In Force says are not recognized as either as a state or even as a government (in fact)].

Because the PRC, ROC, and US Foreign Ministers and Secretary of State have all stated that the ROC "Taiwan" authorities are a government-in-exile, this means they are NO government at all, but captive trustees on site whose existence depends on the US foreign policy or other authority for its continuation.

Since the US derecognized the ROC as the lawful government for China exclusive and outside of Formosa, the Congress enacted the TRA authorizing a successor governing authority, ie civil government,

for Formosa, to succeed to the status quo of US military government Formosa...

The TRA authorized the US military government Formosa (ie the ROC government in exile or Taiwan authorities) to terminate the application of US martial law on Formosa, which was then done a few years later.

Decisions of the US martial law courts on Formosa were treated consonant with the precedent of former US Vice Consul John Waller, Tamatave, Madagascar's special court martial during the reoccupation of the island by the French, namely that even though irregular and thus improper, unlawful or unconstitutional, etcetera, yet the passage of time having been substantial, etcetera, the decisions were not upset... the precedent by Judge Patel's issuance of the writ of error coram nobis represents a different approach however (though she was not overturning a martial law court decision per se, but a criminal conviction predicated on violation of martial law orders).

Martial law on Formosa was never Chinese military government nor Chinese martial law, it was always American military government by martial law for the US in the US entrusted conquered detached former Japanese territory of Formosa.

Because the US has a basis for claims to Formosa, she is permitted to deem the territory domestic for some purposes, such as application of martial law, ie domestic in a foreign sense, or insular therefor to the US, like the former Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

The ROC Taiwan is merely the name by which the US administers Formosa, and is merely the name for the US Administering Authority of the Formosa trust territory.

The passport issuance authority of the US Code in Title 22 permits chief executive officers of insular areas to issue passports in the name of the territory, hence pursuant to the TRA, the US captive trustee in situ Administering Authority on Formosa may issue Taiwan passports, which are essentially evidence of constitutional treaty and law of war based noncitizen nationality of the trust territory type (a kind admitted in the Covenant establishing the CNMI in political union with the US),

There is NO ROC, there is NO Taiwan... there is an island of Formosa, which remains territory detached from Japan, held independent from any Chinese claims by the superior claims of the US, pending ultimate disposition thereof, the US remains her Administering Authority.

The ROC or Taiwan is permitted to act as if a trustee in situ, like a prison trustee, solely in the discretion and at the will of the President of the US and his foreign policy consistent with any constitutionally proper Congressional requirements.

The TRA has permitted the US military gover Formosa to evolve into a lawful non-martial law, non-military government, civil government...  the status quo is therefor that Formosa already enjoys a US Congressionally authorized and Executive Branch approved civil government, whose administrators are elected by Formosan voters and resettled Chinese refugees on American Formosa.

The ROC "Taiwan", therefor appears to be a Taiwan civil government... it is not sovereign, and with respect to its claims to have been formed in 1911 or 1912 or in China, and to the sovereignty of China, the ROC Taiwan remains solely a government-in-exile, but with respect to its post-termination of US martial law form of military government on Formosa after passage of the TRA authorizing Taiwan civil government, the Taiwan authorities have become a proper civil government successor to the US military government Formosa.

This Taiwan civil government is thus a lawful civil government as well as a Chinese government-in-exile, exercising these dual capacities and responsibilities in a variety of names and through many means, but at all times when acting as Free China in exile subject to the superintendentcy of the US One China foreign policy etcetera which permits Free China to remain in exile on American Formosa, and when acting as the Taiwan civil government, it is also merely trustee in situ, and not even de facto Trustee, as alter ego and nom de plume by which the US exercises her Administering Authority responsibilities... because the US has not moved to embrace the Formosa trust territory as a US possession or non-trust territory territory, even under civil government, Taiwan remains the Formosa trust territory, and is not self-governing, just as the civil governments of Guam, Puerto Rico and American Samoa are not self-governing either (and continue to be recognized by the UN as non-self governing in spite of US protestations and local insular assertions to the UN of their self-determined status).

Formosa does not now belong to China, but the ROC in exile may for Free China continue to maintain its basis for historical, cultural and other claims to the ultimate future disposition of the sovereignty of Formosa by incorporation with Free China or China or independence or formalization of a trusteeship with the UN, all as available to Formosa given her status under the UN Charter Article 73 and 77 as territory detached from Japan, and pursuant to Article 107 of the UN Charter, Japan has waived any duties it may have had for Formosa in consequence of public international law regarding integral territory... Formosa may have been integral territory of Japan by incorporation into Japan during the second world war, but was nevertheless detached from Japan, whether properly or not, and Japan by virtue of her unconditional surrender and adherence to the UN Charter, may not be heard to complain in these regards for herself nor for Formosa and the Formosans... public international law only binds US adherence to treaties to the extent the treaties are considered under US domestic or municipal law to be self-executing, and the US considers it may deem later congressional enactments contrary to international law or inconsistent with treaties to be superior and controlling.

so:

1. there is no ROC state

2. there is no Taiwan state

3. neither the ROC nor Taiwan are a government independent of the US

4. the ROC in exile on Formosa may maintain claims to Formosa for future resolution by the US

5. the PRC may advocate her claims to Formosa subject to future international resolution by the US

6. the US military government Formosa has been succeeded to by a civil government authorized by the US Congress under the TRA definition of Taiwan as including successor governing authorities to the ROC in martial law

7. the TRA authorized termination of US martial law in the US entrusted territory of American Formosa

8. Formosa is under civil government, not military government, and was never under Chinese military government, but under allied American military government conducted for the US in the name of Free China or the Taiwan Province etcetera

9. Taiwan passports are US passports issued under the authority of the US Secretary of State for native Formosans and resettled Chinese refugee entrusted and protected wards of the US (because these wards' allegiance may be less than permanent, they may be less than constitutional noncitizen nationals, but this remains of first impression for US courts to determine in the first instance)

10. Taiwan civil government status does not resolve the trust territory status of Formosa, nor constitute self-determination, and Taiwan under ROC Taiwan civil government authorized by the US Congress and Executive Branch remains a US entrusted non-self governing territory

11. participation in elections for the Taiwan civil government is not inconsistent with demands to the US Congress to authorize plebiscites for formation of a truly native Formosan civil government to replace the Free Chinese Taiwanese civil government of the ROC Taiwan authorities, or to ask Congress for a plebiscite permitting freely associated status with US defense and foreign relations for American Formosa, or independence of the Republic of American Formosa, or reunion, retrocession or reintegration of Formosa with Free China in exile or de jure China

12. the ROC when acting as the alter ego US Administering Authority trustee in situ for Formosa should be properly termed the Taiwan civil government, not the ROC... the ROC refers properly only to Free China in exile, ie the foreign policy and affairs components of the Taiwan authorities advocating future claims to China or Formosa, etcetera, and wholly subject to and dependent on US foreign policy for its continued existence in exile on American Formosa

13. American Formosa is a trust territory with a US civil government, it is not yet self-governing

14. US martial law on Formosa was lawful because even today the US maintains a basis for juridical claims to Formosa and could choose to embrace Formosa proprietarily as US unincorporated territory rather than as a US entrusted territory, martial law is lawful military government in territory where one maintains a colorable basis for claims to the sovereignty thereto

15. there was never Chinese martial law on Formosa, only Allied American martial law