In my youth this island lying a hundred miles off the coast of mainland China was called Formosa. That’s the point in history we need to visit in order to understand the current war of words regarding Taiwan’s future — indeed, understand the entire political saga of what we’ve chosen to label the Far East.
U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry’s 1853 small fleet venture into Tokyo Bay is credited with ending two centuries of Japanese isolation and resistance to flourishing Asian trade with Europe.
Just as Germany’s objective, lebensraum for its people, began well before Hitler, Japanese ambitions for living space started at the beginning of the 20th century. It lacked sufficient space for its growing population and resources to fuel its industries.
By 1905, Japan had taken up arms to defeat Czarist Russia. It gained control of the Chinese province Manchuria. (Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm weighed this weakness of his likely Russian foe before deciding to invade Belgium and France in 1914.)
In 1931, Japanese forces invaded and took control of Manchuria.
Japan had gone to war with China in 1895, obtaining by treaty the island of Taiwan They renamed it Formosa. While the world recognized the war-ending treaty, China claimed it had been obtained under duress.
They continue today claiming Taiwan part of China and vow recovery. At the post war Potsdam Conference, Taiwan was awarded to dictator Chiang Kai-shek, a false claimant for China. It has remained independent, with the U.S. guaranteeing sovereignty.
During the Korean War, President Truman stationed the U.S. 7th fleet in Taiwan Strait to forestall Chinese invasion. Chiang’s own plan to invade China may have gone forward then, had General MacArthur’s atomic bombing of China proceeded. President Nixon switched the “Chinese” UN seat from Taiwan to China.
For centuries, China was an overland source of spices and other products desired by Europeans. Improved navigation and sea power eventually enabled domination and control of that trade by Europeans. Britain introduced opium from India to China to enhance their trading advantage.
By 1911, Chinese masses, resisting exploitation and inept rule by their emperors, rose up to establish a republic. Leader, Sun Yat-sen, soon died. Power was then divided between regional warlords, a communist faction led by Mao Tse-tung, and nationalists led by Chiang Kai-shek. The latter were in the process of defeating the warlords when the Japanese launched further invasion, into northern China.
In 1937, now the dominating military power in Asia, Japan brutally swept south to Shanghai and Nanking, raping and killing hundred of thousands of civilians. Not until the Japanese tried to prevent U.S. interruption of their Asian conquests by destroying its fleet at Pearl Harbor in 1942 could FDR confront Japanese aggression.
Japanese Admiral Yamamoto, had studied in the U.S. and knew its potential power. He continued loyal service but saw this attack as a grave error, saying, “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”
Following the historic U.S. pattern of domestic and foreign political hostility to labor, to progressive and socialist endeavors, military support was provided only to Chiang’s Nationalists. This is how Taiwan came to be part of the drama.
Mao sought unified action against the Japanese. Chiang determined instead to wipe out the communists. FDR sent weapons and General Stillwell. Attractive Madam Chiang visited and charmed Washington.
Chiang embezzled U.S. funds. He mistreated his own troops. He even sought to make a separate peace with Japan. Stillwell disliked and distrusted the corrupt Chiang. He demanded change.
Mao’s forces, effectively fighting the Japanese in the North, were attacked by Chiang and driven into their famous Long March into the rugged interior to survive. Most of Mao’s forces were killed or died in severe terrain. They were able to recover and recruit because of their popularity with the people.
FDR sent a mission of inquiry to meet with Mao. They provided no support. As the Japanese retreated, civil war resumed. It went badly for increasingly unpopular Chiang. President Truman sent General Marshall to negotiate.
In Shanghai, Chiang’s forces brutally attacked suspected communists but, losing the struggle, he fled to liberated Taiwan. He took with him Chinese art treasures, bank reserves, and over a million supporters. This leader, promoted by the U.S., reigned in Taiwan as a brutal dictator until his death in 1975.
Smaller than most U.S. states, Taiwan has thriving industry and is home to 24 million people. It remains a pawn in global affairs.
Charlemont resident Carl Doerner is an author and historian currently editing his new work, “Breaking the Silence: Revisioning the American Narrative.”