IV The Republic of China

From the Frying Pan into the Fire?

News of the Japanese surrender was broadcast by radio in Taiwan on August 15th 1945. On September 2nd, under order No. 1 from the Japanese General Headquarters (GHQ), the Japanese gave up their authority on Taiwan and the government of the Republic of China began preparations to take over. In October, an initial twelve thousand military personnel and two hundred officials landed on the island. At first, the people happily welcomed the Chinese military, but their joy soon turned to disappointment at the soldiers' lack of discipline and plundering attitude.

The soldiers coming off the boat were not an elite spit and polish group but remnants of an army that after struggling for victory over the past eight years was now embroiled in a continuing civil war. It was natural for the people to compare them with the well-disciplined Japanese soldiers that were leaving and wonder how they had won. Still the common people justified this disparity in their minds by saying that the Chinese must have had "superior kung-fu skills."

Chen Yi (陳儀), the ROC representative and first senior officer to govern the island, continued to carry out the Bao-jia system. He also made sure the chief positions in the government, the political party, the military authority and special mission organizations were given to people coming from mainland China. The incoming KMT was suspicious of anyone who had been under Japanese rule for fifty years and felt it was necessary to de-Japanese them. The people, however, felt that they had just traded one colonial government for another. Instead of being treated as liberated brothers, they were seen as the spoils of war.

As the civil war with the communists on the mainland continued, Taiwan suffered. Any and all materials and goods needed to support the KMT' s efforts were taken from the island. Inflation became rampant; the economy came to a standstill. Most Formosans had difficulty finding work; unemployment skyrocketed. In matters of justice, those in authority were easily bribed. The living conditions of the people deteriorated.

Under Japanese rule, even during World War II, Taiwan was relatively unaffected. As a matter of fact, never in the people's 400-year history on Taiwan had they ever experienced a "shortage of rice." Now when they were supposedly "liberated," rice was scarce. The surprise and anger of the Formosans began to build.

The 2-28 Affair

Finally on February 27th 1947, a simple conflict between the police and a street vendor would touch off waves of protest across the island. The street vendor was selling contraband cigarettes that had been smuggled in; 6 policeman discovered this and confiscated the goods. When the woman asked for the return of the goods, one officer struck her with the butt of his gun. A crowd gathered to intercede for the woman, and the officer, feeling nervous, fired his gun. A stray bullet hit a bystander and killed him. The crowd grew angry.

On the following day, the 28th, a larger crowd came to the government offices asking for justice in this situation. The sentries fired on this unarmed crowd killing many and injuring more. In the mind of Chen Yi, the crowd was made up of thugs and the action was justified. In the minds of the people, they were simply seeking justice in an unfair situation. Protests immediately broke out all over the island. Two years of building anger at mistreatment by the Mainlanders exploded. Shops and factories were closed; students went on strike.

The popular anger would continue in forms of protest until the middle of May when the military might of the new government succeeded in quelling the outward protests. This protest and subsequent brutal suppression has been dubbed "er-er ba" or "2-28." Even today after 50 years, the date cannot be mentioned in Taiwan without drawing a strong emotional response depending on the background of the person to whom you are talking.

It is difficult to give an exact interpretation of the 2-28 affair since many of the historical records have been lost or destroyed. Likewise, people could not talk openly about it for over 40 years and now when the climate is more open, many of the survivors have already passed away. Some foreigners who witnessed the affair in person have recorded their experiences and made them public.

Allan J. Shackleton, a New Zealander, is one such person. He had been assigned as an engineer by the UN to help rebuild the broken industry of Taiwan in 1947. Upon returning to his country, he recorded his experiences of the 2-28 affair and called it Formosa Calling . This was published posthumously by his family in 1998. Another work, Formosa Betrayed, written by George H. Kerr, American vice-consul in Taiwan in 1947, was published in 1965 . These two writings present the views of third party observers and accent the injustice and brutality of the time.

In Taiwan, as was said, it would be taboo to speak about this affair until after the lifting of martial law in 1987. At the time of the protests, Chen Yi gave orders to arrest anyone suspected of anti-government activities and many of the Formosan educated elite were seized in the name of social security. According to the published reports of the KMT government, almost 28,000 people would be killed; of these the majority were members of the intellectual class, creating a vacuum among the native Formosan intellectual elite.

Overseas Independence Movements

Some of the educated Formosans escaped from being arrested and fled overseas. In Hong Kong (then under British rule), a group of those with a strong identification and sympathy to Taiwanese consciousness, organized, under the direction of Riao Yuen-yi (廖文毅) the "Taiwan Re-Liberation Alliance." These concerned people petitioned the United Nations to express their wishes that Taiwan be put in trust before the UN would determine whether Taiwan should be allowed to vote on independence or not.

In Kyoto in 1950, Riao organized a political party, the "Taiwan Democratic Independence Party." After six years, his party attempted to establish a temporary government for a Republic of Taiwan in Tokyo. Later, in 1965, Riao would suddenly decide to surrender himself to the KMT, as the KMT held several of his relatives hostage to compel him to give up his independence activities.

Wang Yu-de (王育德) and his circle of the "Taiwan Youth Cooperation" in Tokyo organized a second Taiwan Independence movement. In the 1960 's many Taiwanese students studying in the United States established other independence organizations and the center of Taiwan independence moved to America. In 1970, Taiwanese intellectuals living in Japan and the States jointly established an international "Taiwan Independence Alliance" and developed branches around the world.

The Republic of China on Taiwan

In the meantime, the civil war with the communists did not go well for the KMT. The Communist forces proved more adept at drawing the support of the common people. By August 1949, the Chinese Communists established their own regime and called it the People's Republic of China (PRC) . At the end of the same year, Chiang Kai-shek and his army had escaped to Taiwan to continue their battle.

The KMT had lost most of the territory on the mainland and now occupied only Taiwan, the Pescadores and some smaller islands such as Kinmen (金門) and Matsu (馬祖). The population of Taiwan increased by some 2,000 ,000 people; it was the largest influx the island had ever seen. Inflation continued to run rampant.

Although the KMT had lost the mainland, the idea of retaking it would be preserved until 1991. In the meantime, the newcomers controlled the military and the political machinery; and the native Formosans faced a problem of unemployment.

By the end of 1949, after spending billions of dollars, the United States government was having its doubts about the KMT because of its corruption, and had ceased to support it. President Truman was willing to let the chips fall where they may and leave the PRC and ROC to work the matter out. If the Communist forces would attack Taiwan, the United States would stand aside. But again, happenings in Korea would affect the fate of Taiwan.

The Korean War and the Fate of the ROC

On January 5th, 1950, President Truman told reporters that the United States would not use its Armed Forces to interfere in the present situation between the PRC and the ROC and that "the United States Government will not pursue a course which will lead to involvement in the civil conflict in China." He had also purposely put nothing in his budget under the category of assistance to China. But on June 25th, 1950, North Korea with the aid of the Soviet Union invaded the South. The United States saw this as a larger communist threat to the free world and responded quickly by coming to the defense of South Korea.

This involvement would make the United States reverse its position on Taiwan. Now it was not salvaging a corrupt government but was preventing what was seen as the spread of global Communism. Truman now stated the following.

"In these circumstances the occupation of Formosa by Communist forces would be a direct threat to the security of the Pacific area and to the United States forces performing their lawful and necessary functions in that area.

Accordingly I have ordered the 7th Fleet to prevent any attack on Formosa. As a corrollary of this action I am calling upon the Chinese Government on Formosa to cease all air and sea operations against the mainland. The 7th Fleet will see that this is done. The determination of the future status of Formosa must await the restoration of security in the Pacific, a peace settlement with Japan, or consideration by the United Nations. "

In January 1951, military aid was provided for the KMT. A joint defense and mutual aid agreement was signed and a military consultant and regiment was assigned to Taiwan. Most important of all, the United States Navy' s 7th Fleet began patrolling the Taiwan Strait, thereby preventing any attack by the Chinese Communists. At the same time, the KMT realized it must root out its corruption.

In 1953, the Korean War would end in a stalemate at virtually the same place that it had begun for both sides, and the Cold War would ensue. Taiwan, however, had become part of the Western Bloc.

The Last Battle?

The Communists would make a concerted military effort in 1954 to capture Kinmen (Quemoy) and islands that lay only 2 kilometers off the coast of the Mainland. After several days of shelling, an attack was launched and landings made. Fierce fighting ensued for several days as both armies struggled for victory. The Communist forces would be defeated and numbers were taken prisoner. This marked the last battle between the two forces. The island of Kinmen would be shelled regularly for several years, but both sides would enter their own cold war. In December 1954 another joint defense treaty was concluded between the KMT and the government of the United States ensuring Taiwan's protection.

An Unresolved Status

While the ROC was now a member of the United Nations and part of the strategy to stem communism, there was still an unresolved aspect of Taiwan' s history. What was the exact relationship of Taiwan and the ROC? In the San Francisco Treaty of 1952, Japan had given up its sovereignty over Taiwan, the Pescadores and other territories; but the treaty did not state to whom the sovereignty of these areas would be given.* President Truman had at first been open to letting the PRC and the ROC settle this matter between them, but now with the Korean War and the belligerent threat of the PRC to stability in the region the matter was left in uncertainty. Even the ROC was not that directly interested in Taiwan; its focus was still on regaining mainland China.

The Multilateral Treaty of Peace with Japan, September 8, 1951

The treaty was signed at San Francisco in 1951 by the respective Plenipotentiaries of the United States of America and 47 other Allied Powers, and Japan. It went into effect in 1952. In Chapter II on Territory, Article 2 reads:

(a) Japan, recognizing the independence of Korea, renounces all right, title and claim to Korea, including the islands of Quelpart, Port Hamilton and Dagelet. (b) Japan renounces all right, title and claim to Formosa and the Pescadores. (c) Japan renounces all right title and claim to the Kurile Islands. . . . (f) Japan renounces all right, title and claim to the Spratly Islands and the Paracel Islands.

The Hand Writing on the Wall?

The sixties brought the Viet Nam Conflict and the issue of Taiwan' s sovereignty was put on the back burner as the United States and other western nations feared the domino effect of communism in Asia. Taiwan continued to prove valuable as a place for surveillance of the PRC, for the R&R of US military personnel and for military supply linkage and strategy.

As the Viet Nam Conflict wound down another series of events happened that would affect Taiwan. The ROC's insistence on being the sole representative of all of China would eventually lead to the loss of its seat in the United Nations in 1971. Instead of sharing a seat with the PRC, the ROC chose to withdraw from the United Nations.

In 1972, President Nixon made his historic visit to mainland China. Then in December 1978, as more and more countries chose to recognize the PRC as the government of China, President Carter dropped his bombshell that the United States would shift its embassy from the ROC to the PRC in the coming year.

After the loss of the UN seat, thinking in the ROC began to change. There was the growing realization that the KMT's chances of retaking the mainland were growing slimmer and slimmer. Revenue that the KMT was storing up for the development of a retaken mainland was seen as being better spent on infrastructure development in Taiwan. From all the signs, the KMT was going to be on Taiwan for some time, so it had better make the best of it.

In 1975, Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) died and his son Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) took over, first as the head of the KMT and then as President of the country in 1978.

Developments and Stories to be Written

There is much that has been written on Taiwan in the past fifty years, but the many unanswered questions indicate that there is much still to be written. The Taiwan Miracle has been well documented as Formosa, now formally called Taiwan changed its agrarian structure in the sixties, developed an export economy in the seventies and became one of the strongest economies in Asia and throughout the world for that matter.

The country began its move towards democracy in the last phase of Chiang Ching-kuo's presidency and has never looked back. Whether Chiang was far-sighted and visionary or whether he was bowing to inevitable realities seen in the protests over the Chung-Li Affair (中壢事件) in 1977 and the later Kaohsiung Incident of 1979 is a story still to be told.

The Kaohsiung incident, the first major human rights demonstration in Taiwan, and its orchestrated suppression by the KMT, would prove to be a watershed in the move to democracy on the island. The list of those jailed and brought to trial, along with their legal counsel reads like a "Who's Who" of the future Democratic Progressive Party (established 1986).

Chiang Ching-kuo is credited with recognizing and allowing opposition parties to develop, yet the reasons why a "White Terror" atmosphere existed in politics from 1947 all the way until 1987 when martial law was formally revoked have yet to be fully explained.

When Chiang Ching-kuo died, Lee Teng-hui, the hand-picked successor of Chiang Ching-kuo became President in 1988. He would be the first native- born Taiwanese to be president. The democratic process would continue under him. Lee would also declare an end to hostile relations between Taiwan and the Mainland in 1991. He would be re-elected in 1996 amidst the missile crisis with mainland China. This would be the first time the people could directly vote for their president. The extent and depth of Lee's contributions to the democratic process in Taiwan as well as other areas are also a story to be written. Lee's contributions to democracy will have to be balanced with his tolerance of "black gold" politics and corruption.

A Coming to Terms with the Past

The culmination of the democratic movement in the past years was the election of March 2000, when Taiwanese for the second time in their history voted directly to determine their president. It was a new millennium and a new era. Ousted at that time was the KMT, which had held power in Taiwan for 55 years, but most outstanding was the fact that it was a true democratic election and the transference of power was peaceful.

Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was elected with a plurality of 39.3%, second was James Soong (宋楚瑜), Independent with 36.84% and third was Lien Chan (連戰) the KMT candidate with 23.1 0%. Two other candidates took the remaining 0.76%. It was a hotly contested race.

The PRC tried to influence the elections by hinting that Chen was the one candidate of the three that they did not want. It was a repeat of 1996 when the PRC fired missiles at both ends of the island to indicate that they did not want Lee Teng-hui elected. On both occasions they failed; the people made up their own minds. The candidate the PRC did not want was elected.

Chen had only won by 39.3% and not a full majority; but full majorities are not always had in a democracy. A quick glance at the history of the United States reveals many instances where the president won by less than 50% of the vote, and even cases where the losing candidate had a greater popular vote than the winner. Chen's victory percentage was slightly less than that Abraham Lincoln had received (39.82%) when he was elected in 1860.

The election marks another milestone in the history of Taiwan. It was a coming to terms with 400 years of history. It was a coming to terms between the KMT and the Taiwanese that all future choices in government would be made by the democratic process. If the KMT were to rule in the future, it would have to gain the majority support of the people. The people of Taiwan have been finally allowed to choose their destiny and not be the pawns of the power politics of history.

Unfinished Business

There still remains the unfinished business of the PRC. The PRC did not exist before the Cairo Conference or the Potsdam Conference* and the San Francisco Peace Treaty with Japan does not mention it. Yet the PRC, whose flag has never flown over Taiwan, insists that Taiwan has always been a part of China and that this issue is strictly an internal one. Should the 23 million people of Taiwan be forced to submit to the PRC? Should Taiwan be denied representation in the United Nations where 75% of the member countries have a population smaller than Taiwan? In the year 2000, the island nation of Tuvalu, with a total land area of 26 square km. and a population of only 9,000 was approved to become the 189th member of the United Nations. The reader is asked to examine the sovereignty issue and other issues in the light of the history of Taiwan and come to his/her own conclusions.

The Potsdam Conference, July 26, 1945

Proclamation by the Heads of Governments, United States, China and the United Kingdom: "We the President of the United States, the President of the National Government of the Republic of China and the Prime Minister of Great Britain, representing the hundreds of millions of our countrymen, have conferred and agree that Japan shall be given an opportunity to end this war. . . . (8) The terms of the Cairo Declaration shall be carried out and Japanese sovereignty shall be limited to the islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and such minor islands as we determine."

One Year and Counting

The first anniversary of Chen Shui-bian's election shows a country still finding its way politically with its own share of crises. The Democratic Progressive Party has had difficulty adjusting to being the ruling party and coming up with a consistent ruling philosophy while the Kuomintang has found it difficult to adjust to the role of being the opposition party. In the Legislative Yuan, the KMT has repeatedly allied itself with New Party legislators and others to use their majority to only question the budget and to challenge and block legislation of the fresh president. This is despite the fact that many of these leaders had studied in the United States and had witnessed life in a democracy.

The People First Party has developed from the constituency supporting independent candidate James Soong. Because of this, in the coming elections for the Legislative Yuan in December 2001, no party is expected to receive a full majority and a coalition government will be necessary.

Chen's inability to solve the Legislative Yuan issue has made it difficult to deliver on many of his campaign promises most noticeably the halting of construction on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant. The elimination of "black gold" political corruption has had limited success.

The fears expressed by many that Chen would declare independence and cause havoc in the Taiwan Strait have not materialized as Chen has repeatedly displayed an openness to discuss differences with the PRC. On the other hand his overtures have met with rejection until he first accepts the PRC's definition of "one China."

Small gains have been made with the establishment of three mini-links with mainland China through Kinmen and Matsu, Further, the President' s good will visit to Central American allies, with an unprecedented extended stopover in the United States, has gained needed international recognition and exposure for Taiwan.

The greatest challenge facing the new administration, however, and one that most immediately affects the population, is how to rejuvenate the country's slumping economy. The stock market has continued to drop and Taiwan's unemployment rate has risen to approximately 3.8%. This may be a desirable percentage by the standards of most countries, but it is the highest in the current history of Taiwan. What lies ahead for this fledgling democracy? It is still too early to tell.

Summary Thought

Taiwan's most recent period presents the most controversy, perhaps because it is most close at hand. The Taiwan Miracle cannot be denied and credit must be given to the KMT as well as to the determination and entrepreneurial spirit of the people.

Taiwan has also become a full-fledged democracy. Beginning with the democratic movements from the "Danwai" (黨外) era in the 1 950's and continuing on through the founding of the Democratic Progressive Party, democracy has not come easy, but it has come. This achievement is also a credit to the sacrifice and determination of the people not only on Taiwan but also to those overseas, both as students and in organizations particularly in Japan and in the United States of America. Yet despite Taiwan's democracy, the ambivalence of the major powers of the world continues to be seen in their treating Taiwan as an equal economically but not politically. And the aborigines, these people, once masters of the island, now play a marginal political role but they have full citizenship in Taiwan.

Questions

When the Allies gave Taiwan to the ROC were they giving it in trust? Could they return it to a party that did not exist in 1895?

Were the suppression of 2-28 and the subsequent "White Terror " necessary or were they used as a means to eliminate political opposition?

What is the PRC's claim to sovereignty over Taiwan?

Can the elections of 2000 be seen as a separation of the KMT from the ROC?

What should be made of the UN Charter's support of the right of people to choose their form of government?

Additional Readings

Gibert, Stephen P. and William M. Carpenter. America and Island China. University Press of America, 1989, Lanham, Maryland. Major documents and correspondence in the relations between the United States and the ROC, 1949─

Kerr, George H. Formosa Betrayed. Houghton-Mifflin, 1965, Boston.

Shackleton, Allan J.著、宋伯亞譯，《福爾摩沙的呼喚(Formosa Calling)》，台北，望春風文化事業公司，1999。

Kerr, George H.著、陳榮成譯，《被出賣的台灣(Formosa Betrayed)》，前衛出版社﹐1997。

陳佳宏，《海外台獨運動史》，台北，前衛出版社，1997。

陳銘城，《海外台獨運動四十年》，台北，自立報系出版部，1992。

彭明敏　黃昭堂著、蔡秋雄譯，《台灣在國際法上的地位》，台北，玉山社，1995。

Cabell Phillips著、李宜培譯，《杜魯門總統任內錄》，香港九龍，今日世界出版社，1970。

林鐘雄，《台灣經濟發展四十年》，台北，自立晚報出版部，1987。

李筱峰，《台灣民主運動四十年》，台北，自立晚報出版部，1987。