People's Republic of China has accelerated the deployment of missiles against Taiwan to 120 a year

Story dated 01 February 2005

"Beijing and Taipei have been rivals since their split at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. China claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has threatened to attack the self-ruled, democratic island if it formally declares independence." Hence the missile build-up. This is a situation that has been building for some time, but has been largely ignored in the press. Most people don't really know the history of that area and don't really know what's going on when they do hear about it from time to time (in section 16A of their paper, and almost never in broadcast media). I'm sure I've covered this before, but I sense it's time for a fresh history lesson.

Once upon a time, there was a land called China and it was ruled by an emperor. In the early twentieth century, the emperor had to surrender power to the Republic of China. The Republicans educated the Chinese people in the ways of democracy while simultaneously working to expel Communists (who wished to enslave the people) from their ranks. During this time, Taiwan (originally colonized by the Dutch, later conquered by forces loyal to the Ming dynasty, then taken by Manchu forces, and eventually ceded to Japan) was administered as a territory of the Empire of Japan. At the end of WWII, Japan ceded control of Taiwan to the Republic of China. At that point, Taiwan was considered to be a province of the Republic of China. In the 1950s, mainland China was conquered by the Communists who instituted the tyrannical People's Republic of China (PRC). The Republican forces, along with some two million citizens of the Republic of China escaped to Taiwan. At no point did the PRC ever have control over Taiwan, military or otherwise. From that time to the present, the Chinese republicans have continued to administer Taiwan as a province of the Republic of China with the provincial government located in Jhongsing Village, near the city of Taichung, and the national government located in Taipei. The PRC currently claims that Taiwan is part of their territory though they clearly have no claim to it. Honestly, the Japanese have a better claim to it than the PRC since Japan actually ruled the island until they lost it in a war. The PRC has never ruled Taiwan. Why is this a difficult concept for some people to grasp? Maybe if more people were aware of this fact, there would be a little more righteous indignation when the PRC promises to crush Taiwan militarily if they formally announce that they are independent from the government in Beijing.

posted by The Sovereign Editor | 7:01 PM

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