Article

2006-03-22 China-Japan-Koreas

Taiwan to remove Chiang Kai-shek statues

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Posted by Anonymoose 2006-03-22 00:00|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Chiang did more to fight the Japanese occupiers than did Mao. The Taiwanese would do better to think of an authoritarian future rather than revise the true nature of Chiang's national security regime.

Posted by Listen to Dogs 2006-03-22 01:35|| 2006-03-22 01:35|| Front Page Top

#2 Someone's never heard of indigenous Taiwanese...

(Don't ask me why ethnicity still plays a role in Asia, but it does. Not all Taiwanese are descended from post-civil-war Chinese immigrants, and not all identify as readily.)

Posted by Edward Yee 2006-03-22 02:08|| http://edwardyee.fanworks.net]">[http://edwardyee.fanworks.net] 2006-03-22 02:08|| Front Page Top

#3 Poor Peanut.

Posted by Robert Crawford">Robert Crawford 2006-03-22 08:56|| http://www.kloognome.com/]">[http://www.kloognome.com/] 2006-03-22 08:56|| Front Page Top

#4 It's a bit lengthy, but there is a great description
on who the native Taiwanese where on WikiPedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwanese_aborigine

Politically, the concept get's even more muddier.
See article from last year Asian Times when this issue was addressed from a political perspective.

Taiwan Poll: Who's the 'real' Taiwanese?
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/FC20Ad04.html

This section I found interesting:

"Three main groups on Taiwan
Taiwan people, most of whom came from the mainland or descended from those immigrants, can be classified in three groups:

1. Aborigines who have inhabited the island for thousands of years and are descended from small tribes related to groups in Indonesia and the Philippines;

2. Immigrants from China who arrived between 400 and 500 years ago, especially from what is now China's Fujian Province opposite Taiwan;

3. "Mainlanders" - those who fled to Taiwan with Chiang Kai-shek and the defeated KMT in or after 1949, when the communists won the civil war and took over the mainland. This influx of mainlanders added to tensions resulting from an island uprising in 1947 that highlighted the gap between the Taiwanese who had lived on the island for generations and those who had just arrived."

I have been always been puzzled by the Chinese Governments belief that they feel that Taiwan is a
Renegade Province that needs to be annexed into greater China.

Perhaps, other Rantburger's could shed some historical light on this.

Posted by Delphi2005 2006-03-22 09:04|| 2006-03-22 09:04|| Front Page Top

#5 I find it hard to generate sympathy for that worthless gangster (he was a member of the Green Gang). China is better off without his ilk. Now to get rid of the commies too.

Posted by Spot">Spot 2006-03-22 09:08|| 2006-03-22 09:08|| Front Page Top

#6 A Stalinesque rewriting of history: see the disappearing commissar and etc...he's STILL waiting to be "unleashed" by the way...

Posted by borgboy 2006-03-22 09:34|| 2006-03-22 09:34|| Front Page Top

#7
#4
Taiwan under Chiang maintained that it was the legitimate government of China. The mainland Chinese maintained the mirror of that stance, that they were the legitimate government and Taiwan the breakaway province. Up until the Nixon years, China's UN seat was filled by Taiwan; the Nationalist government was the one that signed the original UN charter.

Up until Deng Xiao Ping, Taiwan and China were in about the same relation that South and North Korea are today. Despite Chiang's authoritarianism -- he was basically a warlord -- Taiwan has alway had much more economic freedom than the mainland. After the wreckage of the 2nd World War was cleared away, they built what had been a rustic backwater into an economic powerhouse, while the mainland played with oppression and purges and cultural revolution. Taiwan is what a Nationalist China would have grown into, had Mao lost.

Posted by Fred 2006-03-22 09:44|| 2006-03-22 09:44|| Front Page Top

#8 Thank you Fred for the Historical background on Taiwan.

I was checking Worldnet Daily and came across this article from Richard W. Hartzel and Roger C. S. Lin. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49379

I don't know if this applies in this situation regarding Taiwan/US/China affairs today; I am not fully familiar with all the relations between the 3 countries. But the authors makes the compelling argument that Taiwan is really a U.S. territory based on the rules of war and discredits China's claim to territorial ownership. And explains why the U.S. is still involved in the political/military affairs of this country and the basis for military intervening if the political leadership of Taiwan were to formally announce it's independent status and China launches military action against the island.

Posted by delphi2005 2006-03-22 12:36|| 2006-03-22 12:36|| Front Page Top

#9 Something else most people seem to forget is that Japan took control of Taiwan in 1895 and held the island until the end of World War II. That wasn't the first occupation by an outside power, either. The mainland Chinese look down on the people of Taiwan, but Taiwan has a significant GDP - higher than the mainland until recently.

Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot 2006-03-22 13:47|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/] 2006-03-22 13:47|| Front Page Top

#10 What young R Crawford said.

Posted by Joe Stillwell 2006-03-22 14:29|| 2006-03-22 14:29|| Front Page Top

#11 Politics in Free China. The KMT is now the party advocating closer ties with the Communists. KMT leaders have visited Peking and were welcomed with open arms. Removing the statues, more than anything else, is a loss of face by the KMT, who still act as if they were the ruling party.

Posted by Chuck Simmins">Chuck Simmins 2006-03-22 15:29|| http://blog.simmins.org]">[http://blog.simmins.org] 2006-03-22 15:29|| Front Page Top

#12 What about Dr. Sun Yat-Sen?

Posted by mojo">mojo 2006-03-22 15:42|| 2006-03-22 15:42|| Front Page Top

#13 same as removing Jefferson from school's names cuz' he once owned slaves - PC bullies trying to rewrite history. He was a man - you can bitch and moan, but he helped make Taiwan what it is today. Free, prosperous. Perhaps some prefer the PRC?

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2006-03-22 16:36|| 2006-03-22 16:36|| Front Page Top

#14 Both Sun Yat Sen and Chiang Kai-Shek have huge memorial buildings in Taipei, although Chiang Kai-Shek's is much larger. I am not sure if this announcement affects the Chiang Kai-Shek memorial.

Posted by Rambler 2006-03-22 18:58|| 2006-03-22 18:58|| Front Page Top

00:00 RWV
23:58 Phil
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22:48 djohn66
22:32 trailing wife
22:29 Zhang Fei
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22:05 JAB