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Taiwan Under the
Japanese (1895 - 1945)
Being its first colony, Japan was determined to rule Taiwan with
an iron glove as much prestige rested on its ability to govern Taiwan
properly. Japan was determined to show the Western colonialists
that it too was a power to be reckoned with and could govern its
colonies just as well as they could. Japan, therefore, treated its
occupation of Taiwan as an experiment in colonial management, whereby
it planned to use its experiences at colonial administration in
Taiwan as precedents for its other future Asian colonies.
One of their first policies was to put an end to Chinese migration
from the mainland and to staff the military, bureaucracy and government
with Japanese citizens. The Japanese also placed a high priority
on establishing domestic law and order by putting an end to warlordism,
and eradicating lawlessness and anti-Japanese rebellions - especially
in southern Taiwan. Japanese reprisals were harsh during this time,
and on one occasion in 1896 when anti-Japanese protests occurred,
thirty villages were destroyed and every living thing for a radius
of five miles was killed.
The implementation of policies aimed at high economic growth and
the integration of Taiwan's economy into the Japanese empire were
another high priority of the Japanese rulers. When the Japanese
arrived in Taiwan, they immediately faced the effects of decades
of neglect by the Qing Dynasty and an economy almost totally based
on sugar and rice. The first programme implemented by the Japanese,
therefore, concentrated on creating an economic infrastructure by
building roads, railways, communication systems and harbours to
facilitate exports to Japan. So that Taiwan's agricultural potential
could be fully harnessed, they also improved irrigation canals,
implemented land reform policies by buying out the landlords and
introduced new strains of rice. While the development of agriculture
took top priority, the Japanese also allowed the establishment of
light industry such as food processing plants, and introduced economic
reforms such as a standardised currency and uniform commercial practices.
As it turned out, all of these economic reforms met with great success
and even laid some of the foundations for Taiwan's later phenomenal
economic growth.
Culture and education policies were the next issues with which
the Japanese dealt. In an effort to destroy Chinese cultural inheritance
in Taiwan, the Japanese introduced Japanese-style schools in an
attempt to indoctrinate Taiwanese children with Japanese language,
culture and traditions where neither Mandarin Chinese nor the local
dialect were taught in schools. Later on, even scholarships to study
in Japan were introduced. Generally speaking, however, Taiwan's
education system was greatly improved by the Japanese, with marked
increases in the island's literacy rate and technological skills.
But while Taiwan made great strides in economic development and
education under Japanese occupation, there was also some tremendous
costs to be paid. It must be remembered that all of the reforms
were aimed primarily serving the Japanese, not the Taiwanese. Taiwanese
were not allowed to formulate their own policies, and had to be
content with the decisions made thousands of miles away in Tokyo
and implemented by local Japanese authorities. The Japanese also
failed at completely assimilating Taiwanese into the Japanese empire,
and local rebellions continued to plague Japanese rule in Taiwan.
The most infamous of such rebellions was the Musha uprising of 1930,
where Taiwanese aboriginals rose against the Japanese and were quickly
subjugated, leaving thousands dead.
During World War Two, Taiwan was to take on a very important role
for the Japanese military. Taiwan's industrial base was expanded
and limited industrialisation was allowed so that military related
hardware could be supplied to the Japanese war machine - especially
textiles, chemicals and machine tools. Taiwan also served as a base
from which Japan launched its invasion of the Philippines and Indonesia
in pursuit of its 'Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere'.
However, while Japan's reign in Taiwan was bought to an end with
its defeat by the allied forces in 1945, Taiwan's fate had already
been decided by powers much larger than it. Prior to the War's end,
the Cairo Conference in 1941 - attended by China, Great Britain,
the U.S. and the Soviet Union - was convened to consider military
options against Japan in the Asian arena during World War Two. It
was at this conference that the US and Great Britain reached agreement
with Chiang Kai-shek - President of the Republic of China (ROC)
on the mainland - that Taiwan, the Pescadores, and the four provinces
in Northeast China, would be returned to China after the War. After
Japan's defeat, the Potsdam Declaration, which was promulgated in
July 1945, reaffirmed the Cairo Declaration, thereby becoming law.
On October 25, 1945, Taiwan was officially handed back to the Nationalist
government (Kuomintang or KMT) in China after having spent the previous
fifty years under Japanese rule. But while Taiwan has now been part
of China since this time, its fate has still not been decided even
to this day. This is because the Nationalist government that took
possession of Taiwan was itself defeated in the Chinese civil war
that lasted from 1946 to 1949. This war saw the rise of the Chinese
Communist Party to power and the establishment of the PRC in 1949.
During the civil war, the ruling KMT government collapsed at breathtaking
speed and the Communist led People's Liberation Army (PLA) swept
all before it. It soon became painfully obvious to President Chiang
Kai-shek that the CCP, under the leadership of Mao Zedong, was to
be the final victor, and so the lasting remnants of the KMT's fighting
forces and government leaders fled to Taiwan where they ruled until
March 2000, ultimately replaced by the Democratic Progressive Party
(DPP). The DPP governs in Taiwan, the Pescadores (P'eng-hu Islands),
the Offshore Islands (the Quemoy and Matsu groups), and a handful
of islands in the South China Sea, and the Chinese Communist Party
(CCP) governs the entire Chinese mainland.
Western imperialism in China left it a divided country split up
into three: the PRC, Taiwan and Hong Kong. The future of all of
these regions is still very much an issue in today's news and has
serious consequences for stability in the Asia-Pacific region. Many
hurdles have still yet to be overcome in determining the ultimate
fate of Taiwan, but it is certain that its colonial history will
play a large role in determining its future.
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