Excerpt from the Treaty of Portsmouth ending the Russo-Japanese War:
ARTICLE XIII.
As soon as possible after the present treaty comes in force all prisoners of war shall be reciprocally restored. The Imperial Governments of Japan and Russia shall each appoint a special commissioner to take charge of the prisoners. All prisoners in the hands of one Government shall be delivered to and be received by the commissioner of the other Government or by his duly authorized representative in such convenient numbers and at such convenient ports of the delivering State as such delivering State shall notify in advance to the commissioner of the receiving State.
The Governments of Japan and Russia shall present each other as soon as possible after the delivery of the prisoners is completed with a statement of the direct expenditures respectively incurred by them for the care and maintenance of the prisoner from the date of capture or surrender and up to the time of death or delivery. Russia engages to repay as soon as possible after the exchange of statement as above provided the difference between the actual amount so expended by Japan and the actual amount similarly disbursed by Russia.
ARTICLE XIV.
The present treaty shall be ratified by their Majesties the Emperor of Japan and the Emperor of all the Russias. Such ratification shall be with as little delay as possible, and in any case no later than fifty days from the date of the signature of the treaty, to be announced to the Imperial Governments of Japan and Russia respectively through the French Minister at Tokio and the Ambassador of the United States at St. Petersburg, and from the date of the latter of such announcements shall in all its parts come into full force. The formal exchange of ratifications shall take place at Washington as soon as possible.
ARTICLE XV.
The present treaty shall be signed in duplicate in both the English and French languages. The texts are in absolute conformity, but in case of a discrepancy in the interpretation the French text shall prevail.
https://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Treaty_of_Portsmouth_ending_the_Russo-Japanese_War
I happened to spend a lot of time studying the Battle of Tsushima Island. It ended that war.
The best info I found was the diary of a Russian naval officer of that war. Condensing, the Russian fleet was smashed completely by the Japanese fleet in that battle.
Neither side built their own ships. Both bought. Japan from Brits, Russia from whoever would sell, mostly South American countries.
Background details of corruption at the naval ministry in St Petersburg decided the battle before it started. They were given money from the Tsar’s treasury to buy “cruisers”. They went to South America and bought cheap, pocketed the difference, and brought home wooden hulled ships with weak engines.
But I digress. What I wanted to mention was Prisoners of War, which you mentioned extensively. This naval officer diarist had been at the battle of Port Arthur that was besieged and Japan won that from both the sea and land side. This officer was captured.
As an officer POW it was permitted in those days to offer parole. The officer could swear he would not return to the war to fight again. If he did and was captured again, it would mean execution. This guy was captured at Port Arthur, eventually gave parole, and fled to the long train ride from Vladivostok to St Petersburg.
No work for his credentials so he rejoined the Navy and found himself on the Russian fleet headed out of St Petersburg, south around Africa and then north and east. Sweltering heat. Difficult re-coaling because countries wanted to be neutral. Sickness in all the crews.
The admiral had no choice. His career and pension and maybe life were at stake. He sailed the fleet into battle, nearly infinite supply lines, vs Japan’s fleet with all their supplies a stone’s throw away. They got wiped out.
The diarist was captured. By grace of God, the Japanese recording of names of Russians who had given parole did not match his own identity precisely so he escaped execution. And went home. The war was over and the Admiral had also survived and was sent home. He thought to execution by the Tsar.
Didn’t happen. But he was old and had no clout. The diarist officer attempted to foolishly expose the corruption at the naval ministry and discovered various difficulties with his pension and disability compensation evolving.
Quite a story, that war. But there is one other thing about it. It was that time frame when the Chinese ceded Formosa to Japan. It was not conquered land. It was properly documented payment to the Japanese for . . . something.
And so it (Taiwan) became Japanese. The Japan culture was brought to the island’s natives and that was how life was for almost 50 years. Then WWII and even though there was nothing in any armistice or peace treaty with Japan concerning it, Chiang Kai Shek declared that all Japanese citizens must leave Formosa/Taiwan, that it was again Chinese.
When Mao forced him to leave China and he fled to Taiwan, his Army generals that went with him brutalized the populace there because the civilization there was modeled on and had become Japanese in culture.
His officers did mass executions of people who were not even from Japan. They were native. So Chiang’s officers took over the government, and land and everything, and kept it. Winning all elections. Controlling everything. Only early this century did opposition parties appear and begin to compete for control with Chiang’s people’s offspring.
And somehow we are supposed to defend this culture?