“Republic of China: 100 Years of Excellence” is the proposed new slogan for Taiwan’s year-long centennial celebrations. Excellent, and for Taiwan? How so?
When the Republic of China (ROC) was founded in 1911, Taiwan had already been modernizing since 1895 and was 15 years on its way to becoming Japan’s model colony. That same year, some Han Chinese who were tired of having to wear the Manchu queue in a disintegrating Manchu Empire hatched a revolt that never quite succeeded. By 1912, 16 of 22 provinces had joined the revolt, but the crucial areas in the north where Puyi (溥儀) was emperor and Yuan Shi-kai (袁世凱), commander of the Beiyang Army held power, remained firm.
Compromises were made. Elections were held in early 1913 and the newly formed Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) won the majority of the seats for the first Chinese congress, but Yuan got himself elected president of the new republic. He dissolved the KMT and in January 1914 he suspended parliament. The KMT fled to Japan, where it regrouped as the Chinese Revolutionary Party. China entered a chaotic period, hastened by Yuan’s death in 1916, while Taiwan continued modernizing under Japan.
In 1917, Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) returned and set up a rival government to the one newly elected in Beijing. Warlords supporting Sun’s government fought warlords supporting the Beijing government. Emerging communist Russia recognized Sun’s government, while Western powers recognized the Beijing government. Taiwan continued modernizing under Japan.
China’s chaos continued with the formation of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1921. The CCP soon entered the fray and continued the civil war that was unresolved since the days of Yuan. There were the Japanese invasions, the Great March, the capture of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), compromise, World War II and finally the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949.
The PRC eventually took the ROC’s UN seat in 1971. As one of the last holdouts, the US recognized the PRC government in 1979. The US, while declaring Taiwan’s status “unresolved,” acknowledged Beijing believed there was “one China.”
This is a splendid history, but what does it have to do with Taiwan? Throughout this, Taiwan had undergone modernization under Japan and then entered World War II with it. In 1947 Taiwan suffered the 228 Incident and was denuded by the KMT as the KMT fought its civil war with the CCP in China. The KMT lost and had nowhere to go but Taiwan; Taiwan became the KMT’s “splendid” escape hatch.
In reality, Taiwan suffered under Martial Law, the White Terror and a one-party state under the KMT until 1987. Multiple parties were finally allowed and democratic progress finally made. If Taiwan were to use the word splendid, it would only apply to the consensus of 1996, when Taiwanese were finally able to elect their own president. They could then splendidly set about making a nation of the people, by the people and for the people. Ironically, despite four successive free Taiwanese elections, Taiwan still remains saddled with its anomalistic name ROC and out of date 1947 Constitution.
So now to the present. We can thank Jerry Fan (范可欽) for the slogan. For those who don’t remember Fan, he was the campaign manager of Shih Ming-teh (施明德) and his Red Shirts campaign in 2006 calling for then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to step down. At that time Shih raised about US$3 million from nebulous sources and in six months Fan spent about half of that money on advertising. And yes, Fan does own an advertising company. What does any of this have to do with Taiwan? And who is paying for these celebrations? Taxpayers? Why? Do you sense a rip-off?
Jerome Keating is a writer based in Taipei.
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