National Glory Consistently Ignored, Let Alone Taiwan's Retrocession

United Daily News, October 25, 2020

 

On the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, there are many critical historical memories being evoked. One of them is the dispute between two sides cross the Taiwan Strait over commemorating the retrocession of Taiwan. The other is when the United Nations Charter took effect, the Republic of China, esteemed for its achievement in fighting against Japan, was the first signatory of the charter. At the same time, some 70 years after the breakout of Korean War, Communist China commemorated in high profile the sending troops in October 1949 to assist North Korea to resist the United States. This war changed the world situation and the fate of Taiwan.

 

China linked the retrocession of Taiwan and assistance of North Korea to resist the United States by holding a planned series of high-level commemorative events. On commemorating the retrocession of Taiwan, the Chinese Communist Party stressed that not an inch of land was allowed to be split from the country. And on commemorating assisting North Korea to resist the United States, Xi Jinping stressed “Chinese people have been organized and are not to be provoked.” In commemorating historical events, the Communist Party aimed to shout out to Taiwan and the United States but evaded many historical facts.

 

One of the facts is that the day of Taiwan’s retrocession is October 25, 1945, the Republic of China government accepted the surrender of Japan at the Sun Yat-sen Hall on this day, the following year the then Chief Executive Office set the day as “Taiwan Retrocession Day”. The whole procedure had nothing to do with the “People’s Republic of China” (PRC) but just like the explanation of fighting against Japan (Sino-Japanese War), the Communist Party used to twist historical facts and plagiarize entirely the bloody sacrifice of the R.O.C. as its own.

 

Another fact is that China assisted North Korea to resist the United States because the Communists worried that the United States might send troops to Korea Peninsula and Taiwan. In early 1949, president Truman declared not to defend Taiwan but the breakout of Korean War changed the world situation, the U.S. military intervened and ordered the 7th Fleet to enter Taiwan Strait. Under this change, the PRC had to rival against the UN troops led by the United States, although the Communist Party stressed “even it was at the poverty-stricken years,” it remained dauntless facing the American threat, but in the Korean War, its volunteer soldiers lost over 500,000 lives. The PRC paid a tremendous price enabling the Soviet Union to remain aloof, while trapping the United States in the quagmire of Korean War, and indulging North Korea in capriciousness. Even inside Communist China, there were voices for self-reflection.

 

The other fact is: while China entered the Korean War, the relations between the PRC and the United States broke off, leading to the long international isolation of the mainland. On Taiwan, the Republic of China was able to sustain its seat in the United Nations until 1970s when the UN passed its 2758 Resolution, a result of American policy change to the PRC. The Korean War redefined American defense and economic relations with Japan, Taiwan and South Korea, laying the foundation of Eastern Asia economic development in the 20th century. In contrast with the abject poverty of mainland China, assisting North Korea to resist America was a bloody memory of the country instead. 

 

Today, with U.S.-China confrontation and cross strait antagonism, China played fanfare with this series of historical commemorative events, apart from reshaping its nationalism propaganda of “Chinese people cannot be bullied”, consolidate its resisting U.S. spirit mobilization; its main purpose was to engage in “anti-secession struggle” to warn Taiwan independentists and Hong Kong independentists. But the Communist Party, while stressing “one China,” evaded the historical facts about the contributions made by the Republic of China in fighting against Japan and to the United Nations, and its reluctance to face the fact of the existence of the R.O.C., highlighting its united front of “history serves politics”.

 

Most controversial is indeed the silence of the “Republic of China, Taiwan” government. In her national day speech, she still remembered the 109th anniversary of the R.O.C. but she was only willing to discuss about “Taiwan in the past seventy-one years; she deleted all the memories of Taiwan before the withdrawal of the R.O.C. government to Taiwan in 1949, this of course including the retrocession of Taiwan 75 years ago. The reluctance of the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen to mention Taiwan’s retrocession gave the Communist Party opportunity to make fanfare for the occasion. The Mainland Affairs Council and ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) even urged our citizens not to synchronize with China, but not willing to face itself and trying to cut off the history of the R.O.C. It was indeed a synchronization with the Communist Party. How absurd and ironic this ridiculous inversion. If the R.O.C. government dares not to face honestly with herself, how can our people consolidate together to fight for glory.

 

The Tsai administration deliberately downplayed or even deleted the 109 years of bloody fighting of the Republic of China, feigning there were only “71 years of history.” Where did she want to root our common national and social historical memories? If not willing to face the history of fighting against Japanese invasion and its hard-fought process of retrocession, rather willing to abandon the honor of first signatory of the UN charter, how are we to treat ourselves, how can we fight with the Chinese Communist Party for international discourse and defend the de facto independence of the R.O.C.? The Communist Party is not the only one who steals the seal.

 

From: https://udn.com/news/story/7338/4961798

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