Taiwanese legal and academic figures marked the 75th anniversary of the San Francisco Peace Treaty by arguing that Taiwan's status was never handed to any country, a framing meant to strengthen Taiwan's position against Beijing's claims.

• Presidential adviser Yao Chia-wen said the treaty confirmed Japan gave up Taiwan and Penghu but named no new owner, so "Taiwan has no master — we are the master."
• The argument matters now because it undercuts China's case that Taiwan was returned to it after World War II.
• Historian Hsueh Hua-yuan said the wartime Cairo Declaration was never a binding treaty, so it could not transfer sovereignty.
• Speakers pushed to keep Taiwan's status an international question, warning that letting it be treated as China's internal affair would leave Taiwan badly exposed.
• A generational point ran through the discussion: no past agreement can decide the future for people living today.

Outlook: Expect Taipei to keep leaning on this legal reading as Beijing presses its own postwar narrative in international forums.