Gen. Chiang Kai-shek, his wife and U.S. Lt. Gen. Joseph Stilwell, commanding general of the China Expeditionary Forces, share a laugh in April 1942 in Maymyo, Burma. | U.S. NATIONAL ARCHIVES
Emperor Hirohito, now known as Emperor Showa, told Prime Minister Eisaku Sato in June 1971 to support Chiang Kai-shek so Taiwan would continue to represent China in the United Nations, recently declassified U.S. documents show.
Such political remarks by the late Emperor have rarely been made public, since the Constitution deprived him of political authority.
Sato told U.S. Ambassador to Japan Armin Meyer about the Emperor’s remarks at a meeting with Meyer the day after he had an audience with the Emperor, according to the diplomatic documents.
The documents say: “Sato noted he had just come from audience with Emperor. While Emperor is supposedly disinterested in political affairs, he had urged GOJ (government of Japan) stand solidly with Chiang Kai-shek.”
The Emperor is believed to have felt indebted to the Taiwan leader for his policy of tolerance toward Japan, such as supporting the repatriation of Japanese citizens who were in China at the end of World War II, respecting the Imperial system, and abandoning the right to claim damages against Japan for the war.
In the documents, the Emperor was quoted as saying that Chiang had “done much for Japan.”
In October 1971, however, the People’s Republic of China led by Mao Zedong took over the right to represent China in the United Nations from Taiwan.
Declassified Japanese documents on the Sato-Meyer meeting have revealed the prime minister’s remarks that the Emperor was concerned about the Chinese issue.
Sato was supporting Taiwan’s U.N. membership while facing domestic pressure to achieve diplomatic normalization with China, said Seikei University associate professor Masaya Inoue.
Among the factors behind Sato’s support for Taiwan appears to be the Emperor’s anxiety over Chiang’s fate, Inoue said.
Emperor Hirohito told Sato to back Chiang Kai-shek in 1971 for Taiwan's sake: U.S. documents | The Japan Times
