User:DownUnder555/sandbox/History of the Republic of China on Taiwan

Article notes

Need an intro
For info that is pre-1945/1949, should include stuff both about who/what was brought over from China (KMT, why they came, Taiwan's status) and also Taiwan's history as a Japanese colony, who was already here, why they were here (immigrants from Fujian, Guangdong, etc.)

Republic of China on Taiwan, 1945/1949-Present

Tension between locals and mainlanders

After World War II, the United States accepted the surrender of the Japanese and allowed the Nationalist Chinese government to occupy Taiwan. The Republic of China sent Chen Yi, the Chief Executive of Taiwan, arrived on October 24, 1945 and received the last Japanese governor, Ando Rikichi, who signed the document of surrender on the next day. Taiwan was then occupied by military administration of the Republic of China.

During the immediate postwar period, the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) administration on Taiwan was viewed by some as being inept and corrupt. Anti-mainlander violence flared on February 28, 1947 following an accidental shooting. The infamous February 28 Incident, also known as the 228 Incident, became a pivotal event in the shaping of modern Taiwanese identity. For several weeks after the incident, many Taiwanese rebelled, participating in island wide protests and controlling of much of the island. The governor, Chen Yi, while pretending to negotiate in good faith with leaders of the protest movement, called for troops from the mainland. The Nationalists, allegedly fearing a Communist infiltration, assembled a large military force to quell the disturbance in Taiwan, in the process killing many and imprisoning thousands of others. Many of the Taiwanese who had formed home rule groups under the Japanese were the victims of 228, as were civilian mainlanders who bore the brunt of vigilante retaliation. This was followed by the "White Terror" in which many thousands of people were imprisoned or executed for their real or perceived political opposition to the Kuomintang, the large majority of victims being Taiwanese elite--political leaders, wealthier families, intellectuals, etc. Today, there still exists some division between people who arrived to Taiwan pre-1945 and post-1945.

Economic developments

With the help of the China Aid Act of 1948 and the Chinese-American Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction, the ROC government implemented a far-reaching and highly successful land reform program on Taiwan during the 1950s. They redistributed land among small farmers and compensated large landowners with commodities certificates and stock in state-owned industries. However, in some cases, land was confiscated adding to government coffers, to KMT party assets, or to the personal pockets of private officials.

Overall, although reform left some large landowners impoverished, others turned their compensation into capital and started commercial and industrial enterprises. These entrepreneurs were to become Taiwan's first industrial capitalists. Together with refugee businessmen from the mainland, they managed Taiwan's transition from an agricultural to a commercial, industrial economy.

Taiwan's phenomenal economic development earned it a spot as one of the four East Asian Tigers, along with Hong Kong, Singapore, and Korea, though as of late, much work remains in the on-going process of privatization of state-owned industries and in financial sector reforms.

Diplomatic setbacks

The 1970s saw a switch in diplomatic recognition from the Republic of China to the People's Republic of China. After WWII, the Republic of China had been one of the founding members in the United Nations and held China's seat on the Security Council until 1971, when it was expelled by General Assembly Resolution 2758 and replaced in all UN organs with the People's Republic of China government. (Multiple attempts by the Republic of China to re-join the UN have not made it past committee. See China and the United Nations.) Since the 1980s, the number of nations officially recognizing the ROC has decreased to 25. The People's Republic of China refuses to maintain diplomatic relations with any government which formally recognizes the ROC, leading to a complex political status of Taiwan (see also foreign relations of Taiwan). US troops were stationed in Taiwan after the victory of the Communists in China in order to aid in the defense of Taiwan against invasion by the PRC. The U.S. military continued to be stationed in Taiwan until diplomatic relations were broken with the Republic of China in 1979 but to this day maintains a significant intelligence presence.

Democratic reforms

Chiang Kai-shek's eventual successor, his son Chiang Ching-kuo, began to liberalize Taiwan's political system. Events such as the Kaohsiung Incident in 1979 highlighted the need for change and groups like Amnesty International were mobilizing a campaign against the government and President Chiang Ching-kuo. In 1986, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was inaugurated as the first opposition party in the ROC to counter the KMT. A year later Chiang Ching-kuo lifted martial law. Chiang selected Lee Teng-hui, a native Taiwanese technocrat, to be his Vice President. The move followed other reforms giving more power to the native Taiwanese and calmed anti-KMT sentiments.

After the 1988 death of Chiang Ching-kuo, his successor as President, Lee Teng-hui, continued to hand more government authority over to the native Taiwanese and democratize the government. Under Lee, Taiwan underwent a process of localization in which local culture and history was promoted over a pan-China viewpoint. Lee's reforms included printing banknotes from the Central Bank rather than the Provincial Bank of Taiwan and "freezing" the Taiwan Provincial Government (i.e., stripping the provincial government of much of its powers and merging those powers into either the central government's powers or local governments' powers). Under Lee, the original members of the Legislative Yuan and National Assembly, elected in 1947 to represent mainland constituencies, were forced to resign in 1991. Restrictions on the use of Taiwanese in the broadcast media and in schools were lifted as well.

However, Lee failed to crack down on the massive corruption that developed under authoritarian KMT party rule. Many KMT loyalists feel Lee betrayed the ROC by taking reforms too far, while other Taiwanese feel he did not take reforms far enough.

Lee ran as the incumbent in Taiwan's first direct presidential election against DPP candidate and former dissident, Peng Ming-min, which prompted the PRC to conduct a series of missile tests in the Taiwan Strait to intimidate the Taiwanese electorate. The aggressive tactic prompted U.S. President Bill Clinton to invoke the Taiwan Relations Act and dispatch an aircraft carrier into the region off Taiwan's southern coast to monitor the situation.

One of Lee's final acts as president was to declare on German radio that the ROC and the PRC have a "special state to state relationship". Lee's statement was met with the PRC's People's Liberation Army conducting military drills in Fujian causing many to fear that war was imminent.

Contemporary Republic of China

The 2000 presidential election marked the end of the KMT's status as the ruling party. Opposition DPP candidate Chen Shui-bian won a three way race that saw the Pan-Blue vote split by independent James Soong (broken away from KMT) and KMT candidate Lien Chan. Chen garnered 39% of the vote. After the election, Soong formed the People First Party (PFP).

Chen Shui-bian was re-elected by a narrow 0.2% of the vote the 2004 presidential election over KMT Chairman Lien, who had PFP Chairman Soong as his running mate. On the day before the election, both Chen and Vice President Annette Lu were shot while campaigning in Tainan. Their injuries were not life threatening, but the incident is believed to have gained them enough sympathy to influence the result. That incident also gave president Chen the ability of declaring martial emergency, which allegedly prevented the police and military, who are strongly pan-blue from voting. Lien refused to concede, alleging voting irregularities. KMT and PFP supporters held mass protests throughout the following weeks. Subsequently KMT and PFP took the case to the court. The High Court ordered a national-wide recount and found no evidence to support the accusation made by KMT and PFP. The Court decided that the election result was legitimate and valid.

During the legislative elections held on 8 December, 2004, the KMT-PFP dominated Pan-Blue alliance gained a slim majority in the elections which resulted into President Chen resigning as DPP chairman. The cabinet of Premier Yu Shyi-kun resigned, and Frank Hsieh assumed premiership on 25 January, 2005.

In a move that some saw as a reaction to Chen's reelection, the PRC enacted a proposed anti-secession law that allows the use of force on Taiwan and the ROC government if it formally declares independence. However, this law was met with an overwhelming protest from nearly all political parties and public figures of the ROC and disapproval from the western countries. Negotiations in January in Macau between the aviation authorities from both the ROC and PRC resulted in direct-cross strait charter flights between mainland China and Taiwan during the Lunar New Year Period. In a twist of events, President Chen and PFP Chairman Soong held a summit and the independence-leaning president indicating that eventual reunification with the mainland would be an option. Against the anti-secession law proposed by the PRC, President Chen held a video conference with the European Parliament in Brussels urged the European Union not to lift the arms embargo on the PRC.

Domestic politics during the Chen administration has largely been a political stalemate as the KMT and PFP together hold a pan-Blue majority in the legislature. Among the many items that have made little progress due to the political stalemate are a stalled arms procurement bill, which would advance defense capabilities of the ROC through the purchase of weaponry, such as sub-hunting P-3 Orions, from the US government, and banking reform legislation, which would help in the consolidation of the many banks in the ROC, none of which hold even 10% shares of the local market. It is important to note that the president of the ROC, unlike the president of the United States, does not wield veto power, providing him with little to no leverage in negotiating with an opposition legislature, regardless of how slim the majority.

The constitution was further amended in 2005, creating a two-vote electoral system, with single member plurality seats and proportional representative seats, and abolishing the National Assembly, transferring most of its former powers to the Legislative Yuan, and leaving further amendment voting to public referendums. The constitution continues to reform, and it is likely there will be further reform to settle the power balance between the president and the legislature. The issue of formally declaring the independence of Taiwan is also a constant constitutional question.