It is a historical fact that the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government led the war against Japanese aggression from 1937 to 1945, whether on the front lines or behind enemy lines, Presidential Office spokesperson Charles Chen (陳以信) said yesterday.
Chen was responding to remarks by former vice president Lien Chan (連戰), who said during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Beijing yesterday that the KMT under the leadership of former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) engaged directly with Japanese troops in major battles, handing the latter a major setback, and that Chinese Communist Party (CCP) troops led by former Chinese leader Mao Zedong (毛澤東) also tied down the enemy behind their lines and eventually defeated the Japanese aggressors.
“The Nationalist forces ... fought a series of decisive and major battles on the front lines and dealt the Japanese military a heavy blow,” Lien told Xi, according to Shanghai news Web site guancha.cn.
Photo: CNA
“The Chinese Communist Party forces led by Mao Zedong effectively pinned down and intercepted the Japanese and the collaborationist militaries on the battlefield behind enemy lines,” added Lien, a former KMT chairman.
Xi said Nationalists and Communists “cooperated and coordinated” in the campaign and that “both made significant contributions to the victory of [the so-called ‘Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War’],” China’s Xinhua news agency reported.
“Chinese across the Taiwan Strait must keep history in mind, remember national heroes and become united to savor the fruits of victory and jointly advance the peaceful development of our relations,” Xinhua quoted Xi as saying.
The Presidential Office said that the CCP did little to resist Japanese aggression during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
“Whether it came to engaging in combat with Japanese troops on the front lines or behind enemy lines, it was all led by the Nationalist government, which is a historical fact that cannot be denied,” Chen said.
Chen said that the government’s stance is that “it is inappropriate” for Taiwanese to attend China’s military parade tomorrow — at which Lien is expected to be present.
Beijing has held a series of events to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, with tomorrow’s military parade considered to be the highlight of the festivities.
The CCP — which defeated the KMT in the Chinese Civil War, forcing the latter to flee to Taiwan — depicts itself as having played the lead role in defeating Japan.
Taiwan said events being held by Beijing distort historical facts, as it was the KMT who fought all the major battles against Japan during an eight-year war before Allied forces intervened.
KMT presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) yesterday said that she has great respect for Lien, who she said has made significant contributions toward cross-strait peace.
However, Hung added that, given his position, Lien should consider the Taiwanese perspective when making public comments.
Additional reporting by Chang Hsiao-ti
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
RSS