On June 27, 1950, two days after North Korea invaded the south, US president Harry Truman dispatched the US Seventh Fleet to the Taiwan Strait to protect Taiwan and prevent a Chinese invasion.
That move, 60 years ago, not only set the stage for US assistance to Taiwan over the next two decades but also helped stabilize Taiwan’s economy, allowing it to quickly develop into one of Asia’s fastest growing.
While Taiwan’s military did not participate in the conflict — despite offers to do so by dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) — academics and Korean experts said yesterday in Taipei that it was a defining moment for the country, still under threat at the time from Chinese aggression.
“Originally the US didn’t want to supply Taiwan or Penghu anymore. But the Korean War marked a significant change in US policy,” said Chen Yi-shen (陳儀深), president of the Taiwan Association of University Professors. “The forgotten war ... propped up the Republic of China government-in-exile.”
Following China’s entry into the war in October 1950, the Peoples Liberation Army reorganized its Taiwan invasion force into the Northeast Frontier Force and subsequently into the People’s Volunteer Army which was sent into the Korean peninsula.
“It can be said that the [Korean] conflict was of benefit to Taiwan ... it protected Taiwan from communization due to an invasion from China,” said Rick Chu (朱立熙) a Korean expert and founder of the Taiwan-based Korean Studies Academy.
Six decades later, the Korean War still offers valuable lessons for a burgeoning cross-strait relationship, said Paul Lin (林保華), a political commentator and researcher who specializes in Chinese Communist Party (CCP) history.
After the war, Chinese history books wrote that the US and South Korea, which they said initiated the conflict, lost the war in the face of Chinese participation and suffered millions of casualties, said Lin who grew up in China during the period.
“It was a complete distortion of history. It shows China’s continued willingness to distort history through the media and through [education],” he said. “But some people in Taiwan continue to ignore China’s nature.”
Saying China has never given up its ambitions to unify Taiwan, by force if necessary, Lin added that, “China's danger to Taiwan has not changed one bit.”
“They wanted to [unify] Taiwan through the use of weapons before, but now they want to use the economy … [They want to] trick Taiwan into signing the economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China.”
This has become increasingly apparent through the offshoring of Taiwanese businesses and industries to China, said William Kao (高為邦), who used to head the Victims of Investment in China Association, a move that could be accelerated by the signing of an ECFA.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai