The Formosan League for Reemancipation was the first organization supportive of the

Taiwan independence movement The Taiwan independence movement is a political movement which advocates the formal declaration of an independent and sovereign Taiwanese state, as opposed to Chinese unification or the status quo in Cross-Strait relations. Currently, Tai ...

to be established outside the island of Taiwan after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It was founded on 28 February 1948 in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. and

Thomas Liao Thomas Liao (22 March 1910 – 9 May 1986) was a Taiwanese independence activist and founding leader of the Republic of Taiwan Provisional Government. Biography Thomas Liao was born in present-day Xiluo, Yunlin County, on 22 March 1910, to ...

founded the organization after Thomas's brother had been arrested during the February 28 Incident of 1947 by authorities in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

. Upon his release from prison, Joshua was entrusted with responsibility of coordinating the actions of FLR members in Nanking and Shanghai. Thomas oversaw FLR activists based in Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The organization maintained direct contact with government officials in the United States and the Philippines. The

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

collected information on the FLR. The league submitted a petition to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

on 1 September 1948, asking the intergovernmental organization to take control of Taiwan's sovereignty and administration, thereby removing the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

from power. In 1949, Liao, as the league's leader, called for the

Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers was the title held by General Douglas MacArthur during the United States-led Allied occupation of Japan following World War II. It issued SCAP Directives (alias SCAPIN, SCAP Index Number) to the Japanese government, aiming to suppress its "milit ...

to occupy

Formosa Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is an island country located in East Asia. The main island of Taiwan, formerly known in the Western political circles, press and literature as Formosa, makes up 99% of the land area of the territorie ...

and the

Pescadores The Penghu (, Hokkien Pe̍h-ōe-jī, POJ: ''Phîⁿ-ô͘'' or ''Phêⁿ-ô͘'' ) or Pescadores Islands are an archipelago of 90 islands and islets in the Taiwan Strait, located approximately west from the main island of Taiwan, cov ...

. After the Kuomintang left Taiwan, the FLR planned to pursue one of four options for Taiwan: full independence, a

UN trusteeship The United Nations Trusteeship Council (french: links=no, Conseil de tutelle des Nations unies) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, established to help ensure that trust territories were administered in the best interests ...

, US trusteeship, or a return to Japanese rule. To suppress dissent, the

government in Taiwan jailed members of FLR and the

World United Formosans for Independence The World United Formosans for Independence (WUFI) is an organization promoting Taiwan independence. It was established in 1970 by like-minded organizations in Canada, the U.S., Japan, Europe, and Taiwan. Its aim is to establish a Republic of T ...

. Thomas Liao moved from Hong Kong to Manila, and later Japan, in 1950, where he eventually established the .

References

Taiwan independence movement Organizations established in 1948 1948 establishments in Hong Kong {{Taiwan-poli-stub