Fri, Dec 31, 1999 page17

• Review

  At mid-century, as Taiwan stood at the brink of disaster with Mao Zedong vowing to "retake" the island by force, its people suddenly found themselves at the center of world attention. *It was not, however; quite the attention they had been hoping for: redress of the wrongs committed three years previously by the newly arrived KMT government in the brutal suppression of a rebellion that came to be known as the 228 Incident.

  • By James A Mitchell
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  Rather, Taiwan had finally leapt into world consciousness because of the outbreak of the Korean War. The island whose fate the US had previously decided was a matter to be settled between the KMT and Mao's communists alone, had been rendered strategically important to the United States in its drive to contain the spread of communism.

  But in many ways, the words of Harry Truman, seen now through the filter of the history in these final days of the 20th Century, represent the difficulty Taiwan still finds itself facing. That is, security in the Pacific remains problematic, and Taiwan remains entirely under the protective sphere of the US -- even though the Taiwan Relations Act has replaced the Seventh Fleet. The 1951 peace settlement with Japan in San Francisco only ignored the question of Taiwan's status, while the United Nations has, for its own part, consistently refused -- at the insistence first of the KMT then latterly of the PRC governments -- to touch the problem for the past 25 years.

  The Republic of China on Taiwan, therefore, leaves the century in the same murky, geopolitically uncertain waters that it found itself in at the end of World War II.

  That mid-century moment, however, also came at a time of transition for Taiwan, as the memories of Japan's colonial control faded against the backdrop of the introduction of another "external" power -- the KMT. And now, as the century closes, that power, though claiming to have shed its oppressive past, is itself facing one of the greatest-ever threats to its continued rule.

  Taiwan in the 20th century:
  

  A colonial experience?

  At the start of the 20th century, the island was a newly acquired colonial possession of the Japanese Empire. Ceded by the Qing court under the terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895, itself the result of China's humiliating defeat in a war over Korea at the hands of the newly built Japanese Imperial Navy, Taiwan was a treasure trove of natural resources to feed Japan's growing economy -- and its designs for the future.

  Despite scattered resistance to the new regime that lasted more than two years after the Japanese took control, as the dawn of the new century passed, Taiwan was subdued. As one historian wrote, "the military was no longer needed to keep order."

  In 1900, the island was just beginning to feel the beginning of what would, over the next 40 years, lay a strong base for the "economic miracle" that propelled Taiwan into the ranks of the world's wealthiest nations. Railway networks, roads, electricity, manufacturing facilities, as well as improved education, health and even a modicum of political participation all worked together to forge an ambitious society under Japanese rule.

  But those same ambitions created expectations that were to be largely dashed when a second wave of rulers arrived from outside the island in 1945 -- this time from China.

  It was the beginning of a period of great turmoil. "Within four months of the formal surrender we observed Shanghai's metropolitan gangsterism introduced at Taipei, with Party and Army connivance," wrote George Kerr in his classic account of the era, Formosa Betrayed.

  This was certainly not what the locals had been expecting. "In retrospect the Governor's anti-hoarding campaign appears to have been one of his earliest moves to discredit and destroy the educated, middle class which had begun to emerge in the late years of the Japanese era .... they represented the Opposition," wrote Kerr.

  It was such circumstances -- a strict, authoritarian regime that transplanted itself onto the island and monopolized the trappings of power -- that prompted critics, such as National Taiwan University historian Li Yung-chih (李永熾), to characterize the entire century as a "colonial" experience.

  "From a `nationality' viewpoint, Japan's colonialism was quite clear. As a nation, they controlled Taiwan's people, whether they be Han or Aborigine, from a racial perspective," Li said.

  "But with the KMT, it was a case of political colonialism."

  According to Chou Wan-yao (周婉窈), a researcher at the Academia Sinica's Institute of Taiwan History, the KMT's so-called "colonization" of Taiwan was functional, not institutional.

  "It cannot be seen from the viewpoint of a political system, but from the notion of control. Its administrative system had `colonial' characteristics, such as in its favored treatment of mainlanders, cultural bias, its teaching of history," Chou said. "It's a problem of ethnicity, not race."

  But Michael Hsiao (蕭新?), an Academia Sinica sociologist and an advisor to President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), dismisses the notion that the "colonial" experience spanned the entire century.

  "In 1895 Taiwan was not a nation state, and when Japan was defeated in 1945, Taiwan was returned to China, to become a part of it again," he said.

  "The last 100 years has been a cross of colonization, and then decolonization. But the decolonization did not bring about the independence of Taiwan. It rather became a `localization'," Hsiao said. "But at the time, Taiwan's `national identity' was vague, not rooted, as it was an outside regime that had retreated to Taiwan. But if the KMT had not mistreated Taiwan, there would be no problem. The basis of the problem is that national identity based on the whole of China has not taken root in Taiwan."

  That identity, he said, has been elusive.

  "This has all along been Taiwan's problem -- our national identity has never been settled.

  "But since the 1980s we have developing a national identity which has absorbed Taiwan into a national society rather than a `locality' of China," Hsiao said.

  "I wouldn't call it colonialism," says Gu Wei-ying (古偉瀛), a historian at National Taiwan University, "but it certainly represented an autocratic system, which has left a lot of resentment among native Taiwanese."

  Gu said despite the deep resentment of many Taiwanese -- particularly in the wake of the 228 Incident and the White Terror that followed -- the regime proved its ability not just to rule, but to develop the country into an economic powerhouse.

  Li, however, said a colonial attitude still pervades factions within the KMT. "Looking at the viewpoint of pro-unification forces, who say Taiwan is part of a `motherland' that has been under the control of a different government for fifty years, the colonial attitude is even more obvious. Look at the pressure Lee got over his `state to state' (兩國?) pronouncement."

  Looking forward

  With Taiwan facing mounting pressure from China on the question of reunification, especially after the return of both Hong Kong and Macau under the "one country, two systems" formula, its entrance into the 21st century seems fraught with potential pitfalls.

  But scholars such as Li are optimistic.

  "Look at the example of East Timor. For years no one paid them any attention, including the United States and Russia. But its people were persistent.

  "Look at the US now. They don't want to offend China. But if Taiwan's people, like those of East Timor, were to demand sovereign independence, the people of the US -- not the government -- would likely put their support behind them."

  Li and other scholars are quick to point out that the world is a rapidly changing place in which events, such as the end of the Cold War, or the ever-increasing trend of national independence, often take us by surprise.

  Hsiao, for his part, was more cautious.

  "We cannot say what will become of the future. It could be Taiwan independence. But were there to be reunification in the next century, in say 25 to 50 years, it would be neither Taiwan nor the PRC. It would be totally new," Hsiao said.

  "We are different, we are separate, and we are an independent nation, but we can talk about reunification. But it doesn't mean we have to reunify on their terms."

  For your information

  Taiwan's colonial century?

  The occupation of Formosa by Communist forces would be a direct threat to the security of the Pacific area and to the United States forces performing their lawful and necessary functions in that area. Accordingly, i have ordered the Seventh Fleet to prevent any attack on Formosa. The determination of the future status of Formosa must await the restoration of security in the Pacific, a peace settlement with Japan, or consideration by the United Nations." --US President Harry S. Truman, June 1950
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