The Taiwanese military is to hold art exhibitions and a concert among other events to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II (WWII), and to bolster public sentiment on the need to defend the nation from Chinese threats — reminding the world it was not the government in Beijing that won the war.
World War II, and the full-scale Japanese invasion of China in 1937 that preceded the start of the world war in 1939, is a touchy historical subject in Taiwan and China.
The Republic of China (ROC) government ruled China at the time, and its forces did much of the fighting against Japan.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense
The republican government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing the civil war to Mao Zedong’s (毛澤東) communists, and Beijing today largely downplays the role of the republican forces.
Major General Lou Woei-jye (樓偉傑), director of the Ministry of National Defense’s Political Warfare Bureau’s Cultural and Psychological Warfare Section, said yesterday in Taipei that the main theme of this year’s events, including exhibitions and concerts, would be “resist invasion, protect the homeland.”
They include photo exhibitions at 34 selected bus stations in Taipei, showcasing military-related photographs, and a memorial concert at the Taipei International Convention Center, while an outdoor carnival is to be held at Xiangti Avenue Plaza in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義), Lou said.
The ministry would also work with the Taiwan International Model Hobby Development Association to hold a military-themed model show and an art exhibition at National Taiwan Library, he said.
Aside from cultural events, the ministry is working with the private sector to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the ending of WWII, he said.
The Taipei-based Kuai Kuai Co, known for its widely popular Kuai Kuai bistro series of snacks, is coming out with three limited editions of snacks of the same name.
The snacks’ packaging would be adorned with three different themes related to the ROC’s role in World War II, Lou said.
“Our country, the ROC, is now likewise facing extremely serious challenges,” he said, referring to ongoing military and other threats from Beijing. “We hope that spirit of resisting invasion during World War II and fighting Japan can be brought to bear to the environment we are in now.”
It is not a matter of who has the right to speak about the war anniversary, but it is the ROC government that fought the war, because the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was not founded until 1949, he said.
“On the signing of all World War II documents, it is the ROC there and absolutely not the PRC,” Lou said. “This is an indisputable fact.”
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Taiwan was a Japanese colony during the war and some Taiwanese fought alongside the Japanese military, making the anniversary even more potentially sensitive in Taiwan.
Asked whether China had invited veterans living in Taiwan to attend any war anniversary events there, as it had before, Lou said he had not heard anything.
“We want them to know that in their youth it was the ROC they were defending,” he said of veterans in Taiwan.
China is also expected to hold large-scale events to mark the end of the war, but has yet to release details.
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
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
RSS