Is Taiwan a renegade province or an independent nation?
The Taiwanese “separatist tradition” originated two centuries ago, when the island pioneers were in conflict with the intrusive mainland Chinese authority. Then the spectacular overall changes in island life that occurred during the Japanese rule (1895-1945) distanced the islanders further from the mainland Chinese. In October of 1945, after Taiwan was handed over to Chiang Kai-shek, the Taiwanese went through nightmarish experience with the mainland Chinese. During and after the “Feb.28 Incident,” an islandwide uprising against the Chinese, more than 100,000 islanders had been slaughtered, imprisoned or obliged to flee the island. The massacre- for such as it was- left an indelible scar. Fifty years after the bloody March Massacre, the island people face the unpredictable outcome of the Taipei-Peking confrontation. For ample historical reason they put little trust in official pledges, on either side, that a transfer of authority can or will be “peaceful.
The Taiwanese “separatist tradition” originated two centuries ago, when the island pioneers were in conflict with the intrusive mainland Chinese authority. Then the spectacular overall changes in island life that occurred during the Japanese rule (1895-1945) distanced the islanders further from the mainland Chinese. In October of 1945, after Taiwan was handed over to Chiang Kai-shek, the Taiwanese went through nightmarish experience with the mainland Chinese. During and after the “Feb.28 Incident,” an islandwide uprising against the Chinese, more than 100,000 islanders had been slaughtered, imprisoned or obliged to flee the island. The massacre- for such as it was- left an indelible scar. Fifty years after the bloody March Massacre, the island people face the unpredictable outcome of the Taipei-Peking confrontation.
