A Short History of Taiwan
Head Hunters, Pirates, Independence-Republic of Formosa, US Marines Defeated, Kominka, US Soldiers R&R, Nukes, Communists
Most of you have some understanding of the history of Taiwan and China, but it is likely limited to knowing about the Civil War after World War II that took place between Nationalist Ruling Government of the Republic of China (ROC ) and the Communist Party (CCP). The leader of the Nationalist Party (KMT) was Chiang Kai-Shek (CKS) and Mao Ze Dong became leader of the CCP.
CKS and the ROC were allies with the US and British againstJapan and thus were able to get included in the Cairo Communique the return of Taiwan to China after the War Ended in Japans surrender. Taiwan was ruled by Japan for 50 years following China ceding Taiwan to Japan in 1895 after a short war.
The US actually played a minor role in the outcome of War between Japan and China that resulted in Japan being given Taiwan which I will describe below.
If not for the fact CKS and the ROC were allies , its likely Taiwan would have suffered the same fate as Okinawa and been occupied by the US Military after the War . Okinawa, which is also claimed by China was only handed over to Japans control in 1972 although the US kept their bases.
Be that as it may, after the War CKS sent his boys over to Taiwan to resume control after the Japanese left and the rest is history.
By 1945 after an aggressive push at the Japanization (Kominka) in the 1930’s before the War, some on Taiwan saw themselves as loyal subjects of the Emperor and had taken Japanese names and adopted the Shinto religion. The numbers estimated at 2-7% although true believers were probably less than 2%. Those loyal subjects of the Emperor allegedly include former President Lee Teng Hui and his family , although Teng-Hui was just a young man.
For the rest , they saw themselves as Chinese with Chinese Culture. Many of them had their roots in Fujian province and spoke the dialect whereas the Nationalist Government and soldiers sent to take over came from all over China , so there was a bit of a rift culturally and in language even though they were all ethnically Chinese
The Japanese had done a good job with education and building up infrastructure on Taiwan whereas many coming over from the Mainland were uneducated and from rural areas and were considered by the people on Taiwan as rather backward so they were looked down on.
In any event after attempting to form a Coalition Government with the Communists which was encouraged by the US the Civil War began. CKS had no desire to share power.
The Soviets had moved into Japanese occupied Manchuria in the North of China before the War ended after joining the War against Japan following the defeat of Germany. They took over all of the Japanese Weapons and Ammunition stockpiles as Japan left. Since CKS Army was mostly in the South West and the CCP army in the North the Soviets gave many of these arms to the CCP , and continued to provide them arms during the Civil War, many of which were from the US (left over from Lend Lease )
Meanwhile, the US being somewhat unhappy with CKS performance during the War and over his reluctance to broker a deal with the CCP declared an Arms Embargo from 1946 into 1947. By the time they started providing Arms the CCP had gained the upper hand and it was too late.
In 1947 CKS began plans to move his government to Taiwan as a fall back position . First he would need to secure the Island since the population was not very happy, especially after what is known as the 2-28 event in 1947 that led to island wide protests and a brutal crackdown leaving up to 10,000 dead. Martial Law was Declared which was not lifted for 40 years. The White Terror was also launched to root out Communists and those opposed to Government.
After securing much of Chinas Treasure which included Art, Gold and Foreign Exchange Reserves and sending it over to Taiwan as his Army was being defeated , CKS and almost 2 million of his supporters, soldiers and Navy engulfed Taiwan.
As the CCP had no Navy to speak of, no invasion of Taiwan was possible at that time. Taiwan was only one of Chinas Provinces but CKS declared the ROC on Taiwan was still the legitimate government of all of China. In 1945 the ROC was given a Security Council Seat in the UN which they were able to keep until 1971
The US fully expected China to eventually invade Taiwan and take it over. They were prepared to let it happen. The Truman Administration had no use for CKS or Taiwan and did not consider Mao’s China much of a threat.
Frankly, one has to wonder at the thinking in the US. From the arms embargo in 1946 and not caring that the CCP would control the most populous country on the Planet on the Soviet Unions Back Door as the Cold War was heating up.
After the Korean War started in 1950 the question Who Lost China ? was being screamed from the roof tops, especially by those on the Right.
All of a sudden Taiwan and CKS became more important. Taiwan was now useful to the US and would be for over 20 years.
After the outbreak of the Korean War in the United States sent its Seventh Fleet into the Taiwan Strait to prevent the Korean conflict from spreading south. The appearance of the Seventh Fleet angered the Chinese Communists, who transferred their troops poised for an invasion of Taiwan to the Korean front.
On 02 December 1954 the United States signed the Mutual Defense Treaty with the ROC. Although the treaty did not commit the United States to defending the off-shore islands, it promised support if the ROC engaged in a broader conflict with the PRC.
In January 1955, the U.S. Congress passed the “Formosa Resolution,” which gave President Eisenhower total authority to defend Taiwan and the off-shore islands.
The U.S. Government then announced its determination to defend Taiwan against communist attack, although it did not specify the territory included within its defensive perimeter.
Taiwans reaction to U.S. base-rights requests was prompt and favorable. In the 1950s, after the Korean War and before Vietnam, Taiwan was an important naval and air base for the United States.
In 1958 President Eisenhower deployed 20 Matador TM-61 nuclear cruise missiles to Tainan Airbase as tensions in the Formosa Strait smoldered. The 17th TMS on Taiwan (Formosa) was the first TM-61A missile unit deploy in Asia. Numbers deployed, operating locations, and operational history for this unit are unknown.
Only in 1960 did the United States first base nuclear warheads on Taiwan; by 1970, about 200 nuclear weapons under US sovereign control were in place on Taiwan.
Taiwan was also a major center for gathering intelligence on Communist China. Pilots of the Nationalist Air Force flew U-2 missions out of Taiwan and the information gained from agents and other sources on events in mainland China was turned over to American intelligence units on the island. The first two U-2Fs were delivered to the ROCAF in July 1960, another two in December 1962.
During 15-years of reconnaissance operations code-named Project Razor, ROC pilots flew 102 missions that penetrated the bamboo curtain, including overflights over North Korea and Northern Indochina. Surface-to-air missiles shot down five U-2s over Mainland China.
The number of United States Taiwan Defense Command troops stationed on the island of Taiwan gradually rose to 30,000 from 1968 to 1969.
Taiwan was a popular spot of the troops in Vietnam to take R&R
Taiwan R& R 1967
https://archive.org/details/82054-holiday-from-hell-vwr
As a teenager my wife and her friends would take turns peeking into the doorways of the bars that catered to the soldiers on the way home from school.
Americans stationed on Taiwan provided support and communications facilities for forces in Vietnam and the western Pacific. By 1971 there were about 9,000 Americans in Taiwan
Like so many other countries, once their usefulness is ended they are abused and then abandoned. The abuse came with taking away ROC permanent seat at the Security Council in 1971 and the Shanghai Communique in 1972. The abandonment came with diplomatic recognition of PRC and announcement of the withdrawal of diplomatic relations with the ROC on Taiwan in 1978. CKS was dead by then.
The Taiwan Relations Act of 1979 was meant to atone for the abandonment but still reaffirmed there was one China and PRC was the government and the differences between the 2 governments were to be resolved peacefully.
There was no commitment to defend Taiwan. Strategic Ambiguity was required so the US would not be required to come to Taiwans aid if Taiwan unilaterally provoked China without the US approval.
Now lets go back to the beginning. You might be interested to know this was not the first Chinese Civil War that ended with the loser seeking safe haven on Taiwan and using it as a base
By 1573 and 1620 China Ming Dynasty had turned inward, banned maritime commerce, and begun to dismantle its once-great fleets. When China closed its shores and docks, maritime trade and commerce became piracy and smuggling.
After Ming dynasty enforced its ban on seaborne trade, the already heavily armed traders often turned to preying on one another, on other ships, and on coastal communities.
The biggest Pirate was Zheng Zhilong,( April 16, 1604-November 24, 1661), baptismal name Nicholas Iquan Gaspard, was a Chinese admiral, merchant, military general, pirate, and politician of the late Ming dynasty who later defected to the Qing dynasty.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zheng_Zhilong
He was the father of Koxinga, Prince of Yanping, the founder of the pro-Ming Kingdom of Tungning in Taiwan, and as such an ancestor of the House of Koxinga.
After his defection, he was given noble titles by the Qing government, but was eventually executed because of his son's continued resistance against the Qing regime.
He was baptized as a Catholic in Macau, receiving the Christian name Nicholas Gaspard. His uncle asked him to take some cargo to Hirado, Japan, where he met a rich old Min man named Li Dan, the Japanese city's Kapitan Cina or Chinese headman, who became his mentor.
In 1622, when Dutch forces took over the Pescadores archipelago off the Taiwan Strait, Li Dan sent Zheng to the Pescadores to work with the Dutch as a translator in peace negotiations during the war between the Ming and Dutch over the islands.
Before leaving Japan, he met and married a local Japanese woman named Tagawa Matsu. He conceived Koxinga with her, leaving Japan before she gave birth in 1624.
After Li died in 1625, Zheng acquired his fleet. Zheng Zhilong initially worked as a translator, although allegedly was engaging pirate activities simultaneously.
In 1624, Zheng officially became a privateer for the Dutch East India Company after they colonized Taiwan. During this time, he was still aligned with Li Dan.
After Li Dan died, Zheng Zhilong became the unopposed leader of the Chinese pirates forming Shibazhi (十八芝) which was a pirate organization of 18 well-known Chinese pirates,
Following his ascension to power, Zheng began to build up his fleets. With access to European sailing and military technology he made his armada of junks superior to the Chinese Imperial navy.
Zheng prospered and by 1627 he was leading four hundred junks and tens of thousands of men, including Chinese, Japanese, and even some Europeans.He had a bodyguard of former black slaves who ran away from the Portuguese.
They began to challenge the Ming fleet and won a series of victories. In 1628, Zheng Zhilong defeated the Ming Dynasty's fleet. The Ming Dynasty's southern fleet surrendered to Shibazhi, and Zheng decided to switch from being a pirate captain to working for the Ming Dynasty in an official capacity. Zheng Zhilong was appointed major general in 1628.
By 1630, he controlled all shipping in the South China Sea.
After joining the Ming navy, Zheng and his wife resettled on Taiwan (this is disputed, it may have been Peng Hu Island which is part of Taiwan today) where he operated a large armed pirate fleet of over 800 ships along the coast from Japan to Vietnam.
He was appointed by the Chinese Imperial family as "Admiral of the Coastal Seas". In this capacity he defeated an alliance of Dutch East India Company vessels and junks under renegade Shibazhi pirate Liu Xiang (劉香) on October 22, 1633 in the Battle of Liaoluo Bay.
The spoils that followed from this victory made him fabulously wealthy. He bought a large amount of land (as much as 60% of Fujian), and became a powerful landlord.
Zheng would continue to serve the Ming dynasty after the fall of the Ming capital Beijing in June 1644.
After the capture of Nanjing in 1645, Zheng accepted an offer to serve as commander-in-chief of the imperial forces and was ordered to defend the newly established capital in Fuzhou under the Prince of Tang.
In 1646, Zheng decided to defect to the Manchus (Qing) and thusly left the passes of Zhejiang unguarded, allowing Manchu forces to capture Fuzhou.
His brothers who still controlled most of the Zheng army, and his son Koxinga refused to defect to the Qing and asked him to not surrender. Zheng Zhilong did not listen and the Qing noticed his followers and army had not followed him in his defection, so he was placed under house arrest and taken to Beijing. His bodyguard of former African slaves all died trying to stop the arrest and protect their master.
The Qing then marched to one of his castles in Anhai to humiliate his Japanese wife Tagawa Matsu.
Zheng Zhilong, along with his servants and sons who went with him were kept under house arrest for many years, until 1661. The Qing initially sentenced Zheng and his remaining servants and sons with him to death by lingchi but commuted their sentence to death by decapitation instead. He would later be executed by the Qing government in 1661 at Caishikou, as a result of his son Koxinga's continued resistance against the Qing regime.
Koxinga, 1624-1662 CE, known in China as Zheng Chenggong, was a scholar, a pirate and a Ming loyalist. He was born in Japan, the son of Zheng Zhilong and a Japanese mother, but at the age of seven he moved to China and successfully sat for the imperial exams. When Manchu tribes began their takeover of the country in 1644, Koxinga continued to fight for the Ming cause.
In 1656, partly helped by a big storm, he managed to destroy the Manchu navy and continued on to the island of Taiwan. In the eyes of the new Qing regime, he was an outlaw and a pirate.
In the early part of the seventeenth-century Taiwan was controlled by the Dutch East India Company. Undaunted by the power of the Europeans, Koxinga laid a siege on their major fortification, Fort Zeelandia, in the city of Tainan. Eventually defeating them in 1661, he established Chinese rule on the island for the first time. Yet only a year later, when conducting raids in the Philippines, he contracted malaria and died, only 37 years old.
In 1683, the Qing army defeated Koxinga’s descendants, claiming Taiwan as a part of the mainland.
After 1949, when KMT, the Chinese nationalists, was defeated by Mao’s Communists, they, just as Koxinga, took refuge in Taiwan. And just like him, they regarded the island as a staging-post for a reconquest of the mainland.
Yet Koxinga has been remembered in other ways too. Taiwanese people who want independence for their country emphasize that Koxinga effectively turned the island into an self-governing territory.
The only Taiwanese who refuse to acknowledge Koxinga’s memory are the original inhabitants, the aborigines, which make up about two percent of the island’s population. As a result of Koxinga’s occupation they were pushed off the best agricultural land and the lucrative trade with the Dutch came to a halt.
Supporters of Taiwanese independence are skeptical about embracing the Koxinga legacy. Koxinga's mixed Japanese heritage (the Japanese were an occupying force for 50 years between 1895 and 1945) and the positive connotations in mainland China have all made acceptance by Taiwan independence supporters problematic.
In mainland China, Koxinga is considered a positive historical but human figure . Koxinga’s retreat to Taiwan is seen largely as an inspirational story of Chinese nationalists seeking refuge against hostile forces. Koxinga's aspirations to see Taiwan united with the mainland is often accentuated. Furthermore, Koxinga facilitated the settlement of a large number of Han Chinese to Taiwan who brought with them their Han cultures, traditions, and languages. As a direct result, Han Chinese make up approximately 98% of the Taiwanese population today.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koxinga
So now lets look at how Taiwan was given to Japan.
On July 13, 1866, Le Gendre was appointed to be American consul at Xiamen (then known by its Hokkien pronunciation "Amoy") in the Fujian Province of the Qing Empire.. As consul, Le Gendre was in control of five of the Treaty Ports open to foreign commerce in China: Xiamen, Keelung, Taiwan (modern-day Tainan), Tamsui, and Kaohsiung (then known as "Takao"). He worked to suppress the illegal trade in coolies, indentured laborers.
Following the wreck of an American ship Rover on Taiwan Island on March 12, 1867, and the subsequent massacre of the surviving crew by Taiwanese aborigines, Le Gendre traveled to Fuzhou to persuade the Governor General of Fujian and Zhejiang to put pressure on the Chinese authorities in Taiwan to resolve the issue.
Instead of taking action, the governor general of Fujian gave Le Gendre permission to go to Taiwan himself, writing a letter of introduction that asked the prefect of Taiwancooperate.
Le Gendre commissioned the United States steamer Ashuelot in order to visit the scene of the wreck and to try to get officials in Taiwan to act. Both this and the subsequent American punitive expedition under Rear Adm. Henry Bell were failures; Le Gendre then returned to Taiwan without any reference to his superiors to gather more information.
Local representatives of the Chinese Qing Dynasty government in Formosa claimed that the Paiwan tribesmen (native headhunting aborigines) were operating outside the control of any lawful government, in effect indicating they would not interfere with however the United States chose to deal with the situation.
The American consul in Xiamen, China, located across the strait from Formosa, arrived in Formosa and spent the month of April 1867 trying to make contact with the Paiwan, but the tribes remained implacably hostile and attempts at some sort of diplomatic solution failed.
After a delay of three months, which was blamed on red-tapeism in Washington, Rear Admiral Bell departed Shanghai in June 1867 on his flagship, screw sloop Hartford, in company with screw sloop Wyoming, bound for Formosa to conduct a punitive expedition.
Bell’s two ships arrived off southwestern Formosa on 13 June 1867 and anchored a half mile offshore, where Rover had wrecked. Paiwan warriors “painted red” were observed gathering in cleared spots, indicating they would not be surprised.
Ship’s boats landed 181 officers, sailors, and Marines under the overall command of Commander George E. Belknap (captain of Hartford). The group included Marine contingents from both ships, 80 armed sailors from Hartford, 40 armed sailors from Wyoming, and the Hartford’s light howitzer crew of five.
The intent of the operation was somewhat vague—punish the Paiwan—and intelligence on the terrain and objective was completely lacking.
Commander Belknap’s group split into two columns for the march inland. The second column was under the command of Lieutenant Commander Alexander Slidell MacKenzie.
As the two columns pressed inland, about 20 Marines under the command of Marine Captain James Forney formed a skirmish line ahead. The jungle environment was extremely hot and humid, and the U.S. force was inappropriately dressed in heavy woolen uniforms for shipboard warmth. After an hour of thrashing through the dense jungle, Paiwan warriors opened fire with muskets from a concealed hill ahead. No one was hit.
MacKenzie’s column and the Marines charged the position, but by the time they hacked their way there, the Paiwan had melted away into the jungle.
The two columns pressed forward, coming under fire from spears, rocks, and musket fire from a mostly unseen enemy. Each time the U.S. force charged, the Paiwan just retreated further into the jungle. After about six hours of this, a number of U.S. personnel had passed out from heat exhaustion and sunstroke, and others were delirious.
Finally, unseen Paiwan warriors fired a volley of muskets. MacKenzie was hit and mortally wounded. At this point, Belknap, who was prostrated by the oppressive heat, made the decision to withdraw from the fruitless pursuit. Paiwan casualties, if any, are unknown.
After the failed punitive expedition, Rear Admiral Bell recommended that the only way to ensure the area was safe was to enlist a powerful local ally to drive out the Paiwan natives.
The American consul in Xiamen convinced the Chinese governor general of Fuzhou Province to send a 1,000-man expedition to Formosa. Although Bell declined to send a gunboat in support of this expedition, the American consul, Charles W. Le Gendre, actually wound up in charge of it; he succeeded in negotiating a treaty with the natives for the safety of shipwrecked sailors in exchange for keeping Chinese soldiers out of Paiwan territory.
Despite the agreement, Formosan natives continued on occasion to kill shipwreck survivors. The most egregious was the Mudan Incident in 1871, when 54 Ryukyuan sailors were beheaded by Paiwan natives.
This incident provoked a Japanese military campaign in 1874—the first overseas campaign by the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy. The Japanese campaign succeeded where the American expedition failed, but at a cost of 12 Japanese killed in battle, and 561 dead from disease.
https://www.history.navy.mil/about-us/leadership/director/directors-corner/h-grams/h-gram-063/h-063-4.html
Although none of that was directly related to the China-Japan War that led to the Chinas loss of Taiwan , no doubt the Aborigines killing of shipwrecked sailors and passengers put Taiwan on Japans radar
The Republic of Formosa was a short-lived republic that existed on the island of Taiwan
In 1895 between the formal cession of Taiwan by the Qing dynasty of China to the Empire of Japan by the Treaty of Shimonoseki took place
The locals did not like this too much as the considered themselves Chinese and knew that under Japan rule they would be treated as inferior subjects. On 23 May, in Taipei, these men declared independence, proclaiming the establishment of a free and democratic Republic of Formosa.
Tang Jingsong, the Qing governor-general of Taiwan, was prevailed upon to become the republic's first President, and his old friend Liu Yongfu, the retired Black Flag Armycommander who had become a national hero in China for his victories against the French in northern Vietnam a decade earlier, was invited to serve as Grand General of the Army. Chiu was appointed Grand Commander of Militia, with the power to raise local militia units throughout the island to resist the Japanese.
This was their Flag. The actual Flag exists and is displayed in Taiwan’s “National Palace Museum” (now called National Taiwan Museum)
.
The declaration has not been preserved in its original Chinese version, although an English version of it was recorded by the American war correspondent James Wheeler Davidson, who was in Taipei when it was issued. Davidson's version reads as follows:
Official Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Formosa.
The Japanese have affronted China by annexing our territory of Formosa, and the supplications of us, the People of Formosa, at the portals of the Throne have been made in vain. We now learn that the Japanese slaves are about to arrive.
If we suffer this, the land of our hearths and homes will become the land of savages and barbarians, but if we do not suffer it, our condition of comparative weakness will certainly not endure long. Frequent conferences have been held with the Foreign Powers, who all aver that the People of Formosa must establish their independence before the Powers will assist them.
Now, therefore, we, the People of Formosa, are irrevocably resolved to die before we will serve the enemy. And we have in Council determined to convert the whole island of Formosa into a Republican state, and that the administration of all our State affairs shall be organized and carried on by the deliberations and decisions of Officers publicly elected by us the People. But as in this new enterprise there is needed, as well for the resistance of Japanese aggression as for the organization of the new administration, a man to have chief control, in whom authority shall centre, and by whom the peace of our homesteads shall be assured—therefore, in view of the respect and admiration in which we have long held the Governor and Commander-in-Chief, Tang Ching Sung, we have in Council determined to raise him to the position of President of the Republic.
An official seal has been cut, and on the second day of fifth moon, at the ssu hour [9 a.m. 25 May], it will be publicly presented with all respect by the notables and people of the whole of Formosa. At early dawn on that day, all of us, notables and people, farmers and merchants, artizans and tradesmen, must assemble at the Tuan Fang Meeting House, that we may in grave and solemn manner inaugurate this undertaking
Let there be neither delay nor mistake.
The Republic of Formosa survived for only five months. The Japanese landed near Keelung on the northern coast of Taiwan on 29 May 1895, and in a five-month campaign swept southwards to Tainan.
The fall of Tainan on 21 October ended organised resistance to Japanese occupation, and inaugurated five decades of Japanese rule in Taiwan.
For nearly two years afterwards, a bitter guerrilla resistance was offered to the Japanese troops, and large forces — over 100,000 men, it was stated at the time — were required for its suppression.
This was not accomplished without much cruelty on the part of the conquerors, who, in their march through the island, perpetrated all the worst excesses of war. They had, undoubtedly, considerable provocation. They were constantly ambushed by enemies, and their losses from battle and disease far exceeded the entire loss of the whole Japanese army throughout the Manchurian campaign.
But their revenge was often taken on innocent villagers. Men, women, and children were ruthlessly slaughtered or became the victims of unrestrained lust and rapine. The result was to drive from their homes thousands of industrious and peaceful peasants, who, long after the main resistance had been completely crushed, continued to wage a vendetta war, and to generate feelings of hatred which the succeeding years of conciliation and good government have not wholly eradicated." –
Sir Adolphus William Ward; George Walter Prothero; Sir Stanley Mordaunt Leathes; Ernest Alfred Benians (1910). The Cambridge Modern History. Macmillan. p. 573.
One of the republic's resistance fighters was Lin Sen, future President of the Republic of China. He was the longest serving President of the ROC (1931-1943) until Chiang Kai Shek who succeeded him . Shortly before he died in 1943 Lin urged the return of Taiwan to China as one of the Allies' war aims which was accomplished shortly after his death with the Cairo Declaration.
If not for the fact the ROC was an ally in WWII it is likely Taiwan would have been occupied by the US Military like Okinawa which was then handed over to Japan in World War II . There are roads named after him throughout the island.
Former Communists on Taiwan held the Presidency of the ROC after CKS death for 24 years.
Taiwans first ROC President after CKS died was his brother Chiang Ching-Kuo. Chiang-kuo was sent as a teenager to study in the Soviet Union during the First United Front in 1925, when his father's Nationalist Party and the Chinese Communist Partywere in alliance. He attended university there and spoke Russian fluently, but when the Chinese Nationalists violently broke with the Communists, Stalin sent him to work in a steel factory in the Ural Mountains.
There, Chiang met and married Faina Vakhreva. With war between China and Japan imminent in 1937, Stalin sent the couple to China
To boot his old Moscow schoolmate was Deng Xiaoping.
Yet in the 38 years between the KMT retreat to Taiwan and Chiang Ching-kuo’s death, about 4,500 people were killed. Given that some KMT members took part in the ceremony for the official founding of the People’s Republic of China, it’s not hard to understand why the KMT in Taiwan was so obsessed with hunting down “hidden” communists. This task, handled by Chiang Ching-kuo, led to indiscriminate killings and provided an excuse for the elimination of dissidents.
After this wave of deadly “hunting,” Chiang Ching-kuo’s attitude toward dissidents changed. He stopped the bloodshed and opened up restrictions on the press and the party, permitting much debate.
https://thediplomat.com/2014/12/chiang-ching-kuo-chinas-democratic-pioneer/
Hmmmm….perhaps the death of his brother caused his change of heart?
Taiwans First Democratically Elected President was Lee Teng Hui. Lee was what they call benshengren (本省人）which means he or his family was on Taiwan before 1945. He was born in 1923 when Taiwan was still a Japanese colony, so he was educated by the emperor and wrote a letter of allegiance to the emperor . Lee Teng Hui grew up under japanese rule and his family had favored status among the Japanese having undergone conversion known as Kominka. Lee had a Japanese name, Iwasato Masao (岩里政男)
After World War II ended, and the Republic of China took over Taiwan, Lee enrolled in the National Taiwan University, where in 1948 he earned a bachelor's degree in agricultural science. Lee joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for two stints, in September 1946 and October or November 1947, both times briefly.Lee began the New Democracy Association [zh] with four others.
This group was absorbed by the CCP,and Lee officially left the party in September 1948.
In a 2002 interview, Lee himself admitted that he had been a Communist; Lee remains the only Taiwanese president known to have once been a member of the Chinese Communist Party.
In that same interview, Lee said that he had strongly opposed Communism for a long time because he understood the theory well and knew that it was doomed to fail. Lee stated that he joined the Communists out of hatred for the KMT
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Teng-hui
In August 1971, Lee’s boss introduced him to Chiang Ching-kuo, the son of then KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek, as an expert in agricultural economics. Lee joined the KMT two months later.
By 1984, under Chiang Ching-Kuo, after CKS died Lee Teng-hui had successively served as the Chairman of the KMT, the mayor of Taipei, and the chairman of Taiwan Provincial Government before then becoming Chiang Ching-Kuos Vice President
Gee, I wonder what they had in common?
Taiwan's former President Lee Teng-hui is facing criticism from all sides after a recent interview in which he called Japan "the motherland" and dismissed the current Taiwanese administration's efforts to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II as nothing more than an attempt to "curry favor [with mainland] China."
The 92-year-old former KMT Chairman told a Japanese magazine that it was simply not true that Taiwan took up arms in mainland China's eight-year long war against the Japanese invaders.
“Seventy years ago, Taiwan and Japan were of one country," he said. "Taiwanese people at the time were no doubt Japanese subjects and they did what they could to fight for their motherland."
Therefore, Lee blasted current President Ma Ying-jeou'spolicies as deliberate harassment of Japan and shameless sucking up to mainland China.
“Taiwan and Japan were one nation," he said. "As long as they were the same nation, it is certainly not true [for Ma] to say that Taiwan fought in the resistance war against Japan.”
Sometimes called the "father of Taiwan's democracy," Lee volunteered for service in the Imperial Japanese Army in 1944, becoming a second lieutenant officer of an anti-aircraft gun in Taiwan. His older brother died while serving in the Japanese Navy and is interred at the Yasukuni shrine
Lee headed the KMT from 1988 to 2000, but was expelled from the party in 2001 for supporting a pro-independence alliance. Since his presidency, he has parted ways with his former party, going so far as to publicly support changing Taiwan's official name from the Republic of China to the Republic of Taiwan.
Not surprisingly, President Ma, has expressed shock and regret over Lee's latest pro-Japan statements saying that the former president is "betraying Taiwan." According to the SCMP, he has demanded that Lee retract his remarks and make a formal apology to the Taiwanese public.
Current DPP Presidents Connection Lee Teng Hui in KMT
In 1993, as an independent (without party affiliation), Tsai
Ing-Wen was appointed to a series of governmental positions, including trade negotiator for WTO affairs, by the then ruling party Kuomintang (KMT) and was one of the chief drafters of the special state-to-state relations doctrine under the President Lee Teng-hui.
I am not alleging Tsai has any attachments to Communist ideology , but then neither does the CCP except in name.
The one thing in common with Lee Teng Hui is she seemingly is willing to be a loyal subject of a Colonial Power like him. Only instead of it being Japan (which has since become colonized by the US), Taiwan seems to be undergoing Colonization by the US with yet another Congressional Delegation (I have lost count there have been so many, at least 5 this month alone)