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Letters: Better information needed

I was enlightened by the many historical facts presented in your article "Chiang Kai-shek turned the nation into an orphan" (Nov. 1, page 4). It made me realize it is such a pity that Taiwanese schoolchildren and the general public are so unaware of Taiwanese history since World War II and have been intentionally misinformed by their leaders.

We need more history classes in schools that teach the facts since WWII, so that voters can make informed decisions and come to their own conclusions.

I get quite upset whenever I read in the newspaper that Taiwan and China split in 1949 after a civil war.

The Republic of China (ROC) was sent to Taiwan to accept the surrender of Japan, and to this day, Taiwan still remains a former Japanese colony whose disposition after World War II has never been determined. Both the pan-blue and pan-green camps are misleading people when they declare that Taiwan is part of China or that Taiwan is an independent, sovereign nation.

As for the pan-blue camp, Taiwan could have become part of China if the US had carried out its promises outlined in the Cairo and Potsdam declarations. But that was never done through a treaty.

To counter the pan-green argument, Taiwan has the potential to become a sovereign nation through the actions of the global community. But presently, Taiwan is not sovereign and independent. If Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) had accepted a separate UN seat, we would probably be independent now.

In a Top Secret telegram to Washington sent on Nov. 30, 1971, shortly after the ROC lost its UN seat, US ambassador to Taiwan Walter McConaughy stated how ROC Foreign vice-Minister Yang Hsi-kun (楊西崑) told him of his meeting with Chiang where he spoke of the "paramount importance to issue in the near future a formal declaration to the world that the government on Taiwan is entirely separate and apart from the government on the mainland and that henceforth the government here will have nothing to do with the Mainland.

"The declaration should prescribe a new designation for the government here, namely the Chinese Republic of Taiwan," he said.

The term "Chinese" did not have any political connotations but was used merely as a generic term stemming from the Chinese ethnic origin of the populace on Taiwan. It would be used in a way similar to the manner in which the various Arab countries use "Arab" in their official governmental titles.

Since this information is not taught in schools, people should read about it at the National Central Library, which has a set of books titled Foreign Relations of the United States and a set of microfiche of historical documents from the US National Archives made available via Lexus-Nexus.

Alfred Tsai

Taipei

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