Taiwanese pro-independence advocates and local political parties have used the 75th anniversary of the signing of the San Francisco Peace Treaty to press their case, stressing that Taiwan's future can only be decided by the people who live on the island — a direct challenge to Beijing's unification narrative.

• The World United Formosans for Independence, the Taiwan Security Association, and parties including the Taiwan Statebuilding Party, the Green Party Taiwan, and the New Power Party jointly held a press conference to argue for self-determination by the island's residents.
• Their central claim is that Japan renounced Taiwan under the treaty but did not hand sovereignty to any state, so it is for the Taiwanese people themselves to decide.
• The groups warned that alongside military pressure, China is also using historical narratives and interpretations of international law to frame the Taiwan question as an internal Chinese affair.
• If that framing gains acceptance internationally, Chinese military action against Taiwan could be presented as a "domestic matter," making outside intervention harder.
• Within the pro-Taiwan camp, views differ over whether sovereignty is already "settled" or remains "undetermined," but the two positions were characterised as different formulations of the same statebuilding goal.

Outlook: Arguments of this kind will not change the status quo in the short term, but they will remain a focal point in Taiwan's domestic political contests and in its messaging toward China.