Two former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairmen, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and former vice president Lien Chan (連戰), are engaged in a “quarrel” over Lien’s attendance at Beijing’s military parade marking the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War — which Chinese also call the War of Resistance Against Japan. Regardless of their arguments, the spat has highlighted an important issue: Taiwanese should reduce the KMT’s political power in next year’s presidential and legislative elections so it is proportionate to the number of Republic of China (ROC) residents who identify as Chinese. That is the way to resolve this issue once and for all.
The quarrel between Ma and Lien consists of two parts. First, they are fighting for the right to determine how the Second Sino-Japanese War is interpreted. This issue can also be further divided into two parts: whether the victory was led by the ROC or the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and whether it was led by the KMT or the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The second part to their quarrel is the fight for power in the post-Ma era. If the KMT loses power next year, whoever can connect to the Chinese umbilical cord will be the one who will continue to benefit from the political and economic sustenance provided by Beijing. Did Ma criticize Lien — saying that it was inappropriate for him to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — because he has been unable to secure a meeting between himself and Xi?
Upon further consideration, it becomes clear that these possibilities can be defined as a matter of internal opposition between Chinese. The eight-year war between 1937 and 1945 was clearly a war between Chinese and Japanese that took place on the battlefields of China and the border areas in northern Myanmar. Since Taiwan was a Japanese colony at that time, any Taiwanese who participated in the war would have been fighting for the Japanese, not against them. This is an undeniable historical fact. If Ma and Lien are now fighting for power, it is the individual business of two Chinese. This is such an insignificant fight that it is undeserving of comment. This makes it clear that being “Chinese” is not a matter of bloodline, but how national identity is defined by an individual.
The definition of the quarrel as a matter of internal opposition between Chinese is supported by Lien’s visit to Beijing. For example, his camp attempted to legitimatize his visit, saying that the parading troops would hang the army flags of two infantry divisions of the KMT’s past National Revolutionary Army (國民革命軍) during Thursday’s military parade.
In addition, they also recounted a statement made by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍), according to which Zhang said that during the eight-year War of Resistance Against Japan, the KMT had confronted Japanese troops on the frontlines, while the CCP had dominated the battlefields behind enemy lines, so they both had made tremendous contributions to China’s victory.
As for the KMT’s criticism of Lien, it was just as tough as Lien’s own stance. For example, former premier Hau Pei-tsun (郝柏村) told retired generals that military officers of the ROC attending Beijing’s military parade would be endorsing CCP propaganda, which claims that the CCP was the “pillar rock” of the eight-year war, and said that if they did, they should stop receiving their lifetime retirement pension in Taiwan.
Hau’s son, KMT Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), also stressed that the CCP and the KMT armies were enemies in the Chinese Civil War, and that the KMT’s retired generals would lose their “military morality” if they attended the CCP’s military parade.
These arguments raise an important question: Where is Taiwan in all this? This is a discourse that completely ignores Taiwan as an independent subject, and if Taiwanese are not upset that it continues to appear unrestrained, they are humiliating themselves.
At the time, the National Revolutionary Army was a KMT army rather than an ROC army. Besides, Beijing already recognized the KMT’s contribution to the war during former Chinese president Hu Jintao’s (胡錦濤) rule, about 10 years ago. Even if Xi also made a positive statement about the KMT’s contribution at his meeting with Lien and allowed the National Revolutionary Army’s banners to be displayed during the military parade, that does not mean that China is recognizing the continued existence of the ROC. For Beijing, the recognition of the KMT-CCP cooperation against Japan is simply a basis for consolidating ties between the KMT and China. It does not change either the status of the PRC as the only legal government of China or the fact that the ROC was expelled from China in 1949.
Even if Beijing had admitted that KMT troops were the main force in the war, would that have made the Lien-led delegation’s visit to Beijing worthwhile?
The Chinese Civil War is the legacy of the foreign KMT regime. Today, the army that has been built up in Taiwan is a military force that safeguards the nation’s land and people, and the troops should at least pledge loyalty to the idea that “the ROC is Taiwan” (中華民國等於台灣), instead of “the ROC in Taiwan” (中華民國在台灣). Retired officers’ retirement pensions are paid for by the 23 million Taiwanese, rather than out of the KMT’s own coffers. Therefore, the reason that they should not have attended the military parade was not that the KMT is fighting for the right to interpret the War of Resistance Against Japan, but rather that the people of Taiwan did not approve of their attendance. If a retired general goes to Beijing to attend a military parade showing off the Dong Feng (東風) ballistic missile, of which there are well over 1,000 aimed at Taiwan, why should Taiwanese continue to pay for their lifetime retirement pension?
Democratic Taiwan has room for people who identify themselves as Taiwanese, Chinese, Japanese, American or any other nationality. However, if the public elects a president and key government officials who regard themselves as not only Taiwanese but also Chinese, the nation will continue to be faced with the current absurd situation, which leaves no place for Taiwan. This is why it is not strange that a party that calls itself the “Chinese Nationalist Party” can remain in power, while Taiwan is completely forgotten. This is a deep, ongoing issue that involves transitional justice. One can only wonder how long Taiwan will continue to drift.
Translated by Eddy Chang
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s (李顯龍) decision to step down after 19 years and hand power to his deputy, Lawrence Wong (黃循財), on May 15 was expected — though, perhaps, not so soon. Most political analysts had been eyeing an end-of-year handover, to ensure more time for Wong to study and shadow the role, ahead of general elections that must be called by November next year. Wong — who is currently both deputy prime minister and minister of finance — would need a combination of fresh ideas, wisdom and experience as he writes the nation’s next chapter. The world that
The past few months have seen tremendous strides in India’s journey to develop a vibrant semiconductor and electronics ecosystem. The nation’s established prowess in information technology (IT) has earned it much-needed revenue and prestige across the globe. Now, through the convergence of engineering talent, supportive government policies, an expanding market and technologically adaptive entrepreneurship, India is striving to become part of global electronics and semiconductor supply chains. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vision of “Make in India” and “Design in India” has been the guiding force behind the government’s incentive schemes that span skilling, design, fabrication, assembly, testing and packaging, and
Can US dialogue and cooperation with the communist dictatorship in Beijing help avert a Taiwan Strait crisis? Or is US President Joe Biden playing into Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) hands? With America preoccupied with the wars in Europe and the Middle East, Biden is seeking better relations with Xi’s regime. The goal is to responsibly manage US-China competition and prevent unintended conflict, thereby hoping to create greater space for the two countries to work together in areas where their interests align. The existing wars have already stretched US military resources thin, and the last thing Biden wants is yet another war.