Apollo Chen calls for cross-strait historical project

Opposition legislators yesterday suggested both sides of the Taiwan Strait should get together to research the history of China' s war against Japan and battles fought between the Chinese communists and the Nationalists, saying that doing so could help promote a better cross-strait understanding.

"One of the major reasons for today's stagnant cross-strait relations is the lack of mutual understanding," KMT Legislator Apollo Chen (陳學聖) said.

"A joint academic effort to reassess and verify the archives of historical battles could help offer a new channel for cross-strait dialogue and thus promote bilateral understanding and enhance a constructive cross-strait interaction," he said.

Chen made the remarks at a public hearing which he co-hosted with PFP Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) and to which a number of academics and Ministry of Defense officials were invited to take part.

According to Chen, cross-strait historical archive work is needed as there are many historical accounts and names regarding the Anti-Aggression War and the Chinese civil war that are inconsistent between Taiwan and China.

"To work together to straighten these historic records will not only promote interaction of academics from both sides of the Strait, it can also reduce animosity as both sides gain a better mutual understanding," Lin said.

The Anti-Aggression War began in 1937 and lasted till 1945. The battle between between the communists and the Nationalists ended in 1949 when the communists took Beijing and the KMT-led government moved to Taiwan.

The legislators said that they would work to push for the government to set up a task force to deal with this project and to support it financially.

Chen Yung-fa (陳永發), director of Academia Sinica's Institute of Modern History, said the proposal would help enhance cross-strait interaction as academics from both sides of the Strait exchanged views while they work together to reassess the historical accounts.

However, Hu Chu (胡筑), director of Ministry of Defense' s office of historical document compiling said that the goals of such a project must be clearly defined before any work begins.

"Otherwise, you might run the risk of complicating cross-strait relations by compromising your historical accounts or letting [the project] become a propaganda tool of China to accomplish its unification call," Hu said.

However, the TSU's Department of Culture and Information chief Hsiao Kwan-yu (蕭貫譽) said he didn't think the idea would help enhance relations.