Academics yesterday said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
A General History of Taiwan was written in the 1920s by Lien's grandfather Lien Heng (連橫) as the first history book on Taiwan.
"The book was autographed by Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) when his government came to Taiwan in 1949, so we infer that the book takes no position on Taiwan's identity," said Chen I-shen (陳儀深), deputy chairman of the Northern Taiwan Society and a research fellow at the Academia Sinica.
He said the book describes Taiwan as being ruled and built by the Qing Dynasty. But historical evidence shows Taiwan did not belong to China before 1684, the year it was occupied by Qing officials.
Chen said he did not know Lien's intentions in choosing to present the book as a gift to Chinese leaders.
"He might feel honor or feel proud of his grandfather for writing such a history book," he said. "But on the other hand, Lien has taken a pro-China position and supports the `one China' principle, so he might be taking the book with him to underscore Taiwan's historical relationship with China."
Chen said the book had not been written to oppose the Japanese colonial regime, and Lien Heng had managed to get two Japanese governors-general of Taiwan to autograph it.
And now, in addition to Chiang and Japanese colonial officials, Chinese leaders would also join in honoring the book, he said. The book, astonishingly, has been able to attract three hostile parties, but has no Taiwanese national identity in mind, he said.
He said, however, that the book contains many factual mistakes, adding that books such as Qing History and Ming History written by officials of the two dynasties, offered more accurate histories of Taiwan.
Yang Tsung-lin (
He said the book had originally been partly addressed to young Taiwanese, to help them learn and remember Chinese civilization despite being under Japan's colonial rule.
However, Wu Mi-cha (
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
A 23-year-old Taichung man vowed to drink more water after his heavy consumption of sugary tea landed him in hospital with a kidney infection and sepsis. The man, surnamed Lin (林), used to drink two cups of half-sugar oolong tea while working at a food stall, where he often had to wait a long time before urinating. Lin developed kidney stones and noticed blood in his urine, but ignored the issue after taking medication for three days. A month later, he went to the emergency room after experiencing a recurring fever and was diagnosed with a kidney infection that led to sepsis, landing
RSS