Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) yesterday defended the decision to describe the period between 1895 and 1945, when Taiwan was under the administration of Japan, as “Japanese occupation” (日據) rather than “Japanese rule” (日治) in government documents.
That was because Taiwan, during the decades after Japan won the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, was under Japanese colonial rule, Jiang said.
His comments came after the Executive Yuan issued a statement at 10pm on Monday, saying the period would now be referred to as “Japanese occupation” in correspondence between government agencies at the central and local levels.
“When Japan started to rule Taiwan, Taiwanese never ceased to rebel against Japanese colonialism during the colonial period. The Republic of China [ROC] went through the eight-year War of Resistance [against Japan] so the unequal Treaty of Shimonoseki was repealed and Taiwan returned to the ROC,” Jiang said.
The period “seemed to us of course to be a form of occupation, colonialism,” he said.
“It was like it was in Korea, where the period in which the country was under Japanese rule [from 1910 to 1945] is either described as the time of ‘Japanese forced occupation’ or ‘occupation by Imperial Japan.’ Any country with dignity should phrase [colonial rule] this way,” Jiang said.
There has been a controversy over which term should be used by the government since a recent Ministry of Education review of high-school history textbooks found both terms were used.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said last week that while he preferred the term “Japanese occupation,” a democratic society meant that others should be free to use the term “Japanese rule.”
In its statement, the Executive Yuan said it had the right and obligation to standardize the way to describe the period “to maintain the ROC’s sovereignty and dignity of the people.”
It said it would notify all agencies that they must follow the policy. However, high-school textbooks would not have to follow the policy out of respect for publishers’ interpretations of history, it said.
Jiang said that after thorough discussions with the Ministry of Education, the period could either be termed as “Japanese rule” or “Japanese occupation” to protect academic freedom.
The announcement of the policy came one day after the Executive Yuan was urged by pro-independence civic groups and Taiwanese historians to keep the phrase “Japanese rule” in high-school textbooks in accordance with the national curriculum approved by the previous Democratic Progressive Party administration.
Pan-blue politicians and pro-unification academics have been recommending revising the curriculum ever since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took office in 2008.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday defended the Executive Yuan’s decision.
Wang Wen-lung (王文隆), director of the KMT’s party history center, said Japan sent troops and won the First Sino-Japanese War against China’s Qing Dynasty, after which it occupied Taiwan.
“The then-Japanese empire suppressed the people of the Republic of China and took over the authority against our will, and so ‘Japanese occupation’ should be a proper term to describe the period,” he said.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) also backed the Executive Yuan’s decision and said the city would use “Japanese occupation” in all official documents.
However, pro-independence groups said the government’s use of “Japanese occupation” is an attempt to deny Taiwan’s existence by identifying it during that period as the ROC, which was not founded until 1912, 17 years after Japanese colonial rule began in Taiwan.
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2
PLAN: Nations would receive US$5m a year if they could advance Taiwan’s international participation, diversify supply chains away from China or counter Beijing’s influence The US House of Representatives Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the US and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on Friday introduced a bill that would approve US$120 million to be spent on supporting Taiwan’s international space and tackling coercion by China. The bipartisan legislation — the Taiwan Allies Fund Act — was proposed ahead of the inauguration of president-elect William Lai (賴清德) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on May 20. The committee said in a statement that the bill “strengthens Taiwan’s global network of friends by authorizing [US]$120 million over three years for the State Department and USAID [US Agency
SELF-SUFFICIENCY: The project would only be the beginning, as Taiwan needs at least 120 satellites to ensure uninterrupted communication, Wu Tsung-tsong said The Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) yesterday said it plans to launch six low Earth orbit satellites starting in 2026 as part of the government’s plan to boost the resilience of the nation’s communications. The development of the technology gained attention after Ukrainians were able to access the Internet through Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) CEO Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite service, despite their infrastructure being severely damaged in the war with Russia. Two of the satellites would be built by the government, while four would involve cooperation between TASA and private contractors. “Over the past 30 years, the satellite technology in Taiwan has
‘DIGITAL SOLIDARITY’: Taiwan, the US, Japan, Australia and New Zealand are to install and operate a cable that would connect up to 100,000 people in the Pacific Islands Taiwan, the US, Japan, Australia and New Zealand are working together to install undersea cables as a demonstration of digital solidarity, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday. Blinken talked about the cooperation in a speech he delivered at the RSA Conference in San Francisco. He said that the US International Cyberspace and Digital Strategy launched by the US Department of State “treats digital solidarity as our North Star.” “Solidarity informs our approach not only to digital technologies, but to all key foundational technologies,” Blinken said. Under the strategy, the US is to work with international partners “to shape the design, development,