The ceremony in which Japan hands over control of Taiwan and the Penghu Islands is held in Taipei City Hall on October 25, 1945. Japanese Governor-General Rikichi Ando signs the surrender documents, and General Chen Yi accepts them on behalf of the Republic of China. The building is now known as the “Zhongshan“ Hall.
The ceremony is part of the overall settlement of the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II. After Japan's surrender on September 2, 1945, the Allied powers designated the areas in which Japanese troops were to surrender their weapons. Taiwan was placed in the Chinese theater of operations, and Cheng Yi was authorized to accept the surrender of Japanese forces on the island.
From Japanese colony to Republic of China rule
Japan ruled Taiwan for five decades. The island and Penghu were ceded to Tokyo in 1895 after the defeat of the Qing dynasty in the First Sino-Japanese War.
The international framework for the post-war settlement of the region was then formulated in the Cairo Declaration of 1943, signed by China, the United States, and the United Kingdom. It stated that the territories taken from China by Japan, including Formosa and Penghu, were to be returned to the Republic of China. The Potsdam Declaration of 1945 confirmed these conditions, and the Japanese act of surrender obliged Tokyo to fulfill them.
After October 25, the Republic of China began to build its administrative system on the island. Taiwan was separated as a province, and the inhabitants of Taiwan and Penghu were again granted citizenship of the Republic of China. In 1946, the date was officially declared Taiwan Restoration Day.
An event that remains part of the dispute between Beijing and Taipei
The historical meaning of October 25 changed after the Chinese Civil War. In 1949, the Chinese Communist Party established the People's Republic of China on the mainland, and the government of the Republic of China, led by Chiang Kai-shek, retreated to Taiwan.
Today, Beijing and Taipei present the events of 1945 through different political frameworks. In October 2025, the People's Republic of China introduced a national day of remembrance for the "return of Taiwan." Shen Chunyao, a representative of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said the day was to highlight "the indisputable historical fact that Taiwan is an inseparable part of China," the Associated Press reported.
In Taiwan, the date also remains officially observed. According to the 2026 government holiday calendar, October 25 is Taiwan Restoration Day and the anniversary of the victory at Gunung Tung, and because it falls on a Sunday, the holiday is made up on October 26.
Thus, the Taipei ceremony of October 25, 1945, remains both a historic date for the end of Japanese rule and part of the ongoing dispute over Taiwan's political legacy and status.
Sources: apnews.com