A rival nationalist government formed on the island of Taiwan following the Chinese Civil War in 1949. This separation from the communist controlled mainland China has been a source of International tension ever since. Here, Victor Gamma looks at how and why mainland China separated from Taiwan. He starts by looking at early 20th century China.
A 1920s portrait of Sun Yat-sen.
When Vladimir Putin recently claimed that Taiwan belonged to the People's Republic of China (PRC), he triggered a withering rebuke from Taipei. In response to Putin's remarks, the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs fired back, "the Republic of China (ROC/Taiwan) is an independent, sovereign nation… The ROC and the autocratic PRC are not subordinate to each other. The regime of the Chinese Communist Party has never ruled over Taiwan for one day and does not enjoy any sovereignty over Taiwan'' …The future of Taiwan can only be determined by the Taiwanese people and Taiwan will never surrender to any threats from the PRC government.”
The communist (PRC) regime, on the other hand, like Putin, sees Taiwan as part of its territory. Thus, in their view, they have every right to demand reunification - by force if necessary. Why are there "two China's" anyway? What lies behind this threat to peace that has even Japan ramping up its military muscle? Let’s see what history has to tell us.
Background
The current Taiwan-China conflict grew out of the crisis of the "Century of humiliation" as the Chinese call it. This was a period from roughly 1840-1949 when China fell victim to foreign aggression and internal division. By 1900, after 50 years of one disaster after another, it was clear to many that the Imperial Qing Dynasty was hopelessly inept and corrupt. It had long proven itself incapable of coping with the challenges of modernization.
With chaos and humiliation swirling around them, increasing numbers of Chinese became convinced that they needed major change. Numerous reform and anti-Qing movements arose with the goal of solving China’s problems. Many Chinese realized the need to copy Western techniques if China were to survive. As reformer Kang Yu Wei put it in 1906, “We need, too, governmental and political reforms and a reorganization of our political machinery.”
Among the many organizations seeking to help was the Revive China Society (Xingzhonghui). Today’s Kuomintang Party or Guomindang (GMD) traces its history to this movement, founded on November 24, 1894. The next year the Society adopted an official flag, the blue sky with a bright sun. This emblem remains the Kuomintang flag and adorns the national flag of Taiwan to this day. In 1905 the Revive China Society was merged into the Revolutionary Alliance aka Tongmenghui. By this time Dr Sun had enunciated his famous “Three Principles of the People;” Nationalism, Democracy and the welfare of the people. The Three Principles were partly influenced by his travels in the United States. Especially influential was Lincoln’s philosophy of government “by the people.” The Principles included civil rights or limited government. termed ``popular soveriegnty'' in the US. Dr. Sun explained that the people should control their government through means such as elections, referendum, recall and initiative. These principles remain as foundational elements to the Kuomintang and the Constitution of the Republic of China. These are the values Taiwan espouses today. Taiwanese revere Sun Yat Sen as "father of the nation. '' Dr Sun's portrait, in fact, hangs in the main legislative chamber in Taipei.
Revolution
Finally on October 10, 1911 (“double tenth”) an uprising triggered an anti-Qing revolution. There was nothing remarkable about an uprising, but then something incredible occurred: Within a few short months, a system that had lasted 2,000 years collapsed like a house of cards. The ROC (Republic of China) was established by the Chinese people through the Provisional Presidential Election held on December 29, 1911. Dr. Sun won a whopping 94% of the vote to become the first president in his country’s history. On January 1, 1912 he was sworn in and announced the official beginning of the Republic of China. On February 12, 1912 the last Qing monarch abdicated the throne, formally beginning China’s troubled venture as a republic.
At the time of the Revolution, Sun Yat Sen was the acknowledged leader of the Chinese revolutionary movement. In 1912 the Revolutionary Alliance and several other parties merged to form the Kuomintang (Nationalist) Party, KMT for short, aka “National People's Party.” It evolved out of the revolutionary league that had worked to overthrow the Qing. But it was one thing to overthrow a government, quite another to assert authority. By 1913 Sun had lost the power struggle and fled to Japan in exile, not to return until 1916. China’s infant experiment in parliamentary democracy collapsed. In practical terms, this meant the dissolution of China into a state of anarchy with regional rulers exercising control.
Mao
Meanwhile, another pivotal event took place in 1893: the birth of a son to a prosperous farmer of Hunan Province, named Mao Zedong. Although reared in the ways of traditional China, including the Confucian Classics, Mao rebelled against all this at an early age. He was expelled from more than one school and ran away from home briefly. When he was 14 a marriage was arranged for him and the young women moved into the family home. Mao refused to even acknowledge her. Instead, he moved to Changsha to continue his studies. When the 1911 Revolution came, Mao quickly joined the Anti-Qing military and did everything he could to overthrow the hated Manchu. Having tasted the wine of politics, Mao became insatiable. Between 1913 and 1918, as a student at the Changsha Teacher’s Training College, he devoured works on political ideologies. Especially impressive to him was the 1917 Russian Revolution and the ancient Chinese Legalist philosophy. Upon graduation he took a job at the Beijing University Library. It just so happened that his boss at the library, Li Dazhou, was a budding communist and soon exerted a major influence on the young Mao. He was one of many who became convinced that the solution to China’s problems lay in Marxism.
By 1919, while Mao was still a lowly librarian, a new revolutionary ferment broke out. Seven years after Dr Sun had proclaimed the Republic, China was still mired in political and economic chaos. Warlords and bandits ruled their own territories in defiance of any national government. Sun returned to China in 1916 but his authority was limited to a small area around Canton. To make matters worse, although China had joined the Allied cause in hopes of attaining an end to its semi-colonial status, China was betrayed at the Versailles Peace Conference; Japan was allowed to keep the territory in Shandong Province it had captured from Germany in 1914. This was a massive slap in the face to China. On May 4, 1919 a crowd of students gathered at Tiananmen Square to voice their frustrations. This was part of a resurgence of nationalism. Among other results, leftist ideologies gained momentum. Movements like Sun’s now expanded into a more grass-roots effort. Leaders such as Li Dazhao and Chen Duxin emerged from the May 4 movement. These two, like many others, began to abandon Western-style democracy and turned to leftist ideology. They looked to the new Bolshevik government in Russia as an example. In 1920, Li was head of the library at Peking University and professor of economics. Captivated by the Russian Revolution, he began to study Marxism. Many were impressed with the apparent success of the Bolsheviks. Li founded a study group to discuss Marxism. This evolved into the Chinese communist party, founded in July 1921. Mao Zedong was among the founding members.
Sun
Meantime Sun and his Kuomintang, lacking military support, had been unable to build a strong enough political organization to assert their authority. Sun began to realize that his movement needed help if he were to unify China - they had proved to be no match for ruthless warlords and helpless to end the foreign concessions. Sun had tried to enlist the aid of Japan and the West. He even wrote to Henry Ford, imploring his help. In a letter to the famous auto manufacturer he wrote; “There is much more to hope, in my opinion, from a dynamic worker like yourself, and this is why I invite you to visit us in South China, in order to study, at first hand, what is undoubtedly one of the greatest problems of the Twentieth Century,” The request came to nothing. Rebuffed by the West, he took a step that would have momentous consequences. By 1921 the Bolshevik in Russia revolutionaries had proven they could take and hold on to power. They had established themselves and were carrying out their reform program. They had accomplished this in four short years while the Chinese revolution had now been floundering for a decade. He invited Russian help in building his party. The Russians were only too glad to help but they attached a price tag: Sun must allow the communists to join his kuomintang. Mikhail Gruzenberg, known as Borodin, was sent to Canton in 1923 to advise Sun. Here was a seasoned agent of the newly-formed Comintern. He had already been to several countries to spread bolshevism. He and Sun established a formidable partnership as Borodin put his considerable political skills to work. It would hardly be an overstatement to say that he almost single-handedly turned the Kuomintang into an effective force. He gave them a tight party organization, drafted a constitution for them and taught effective revolutionary and mobilization techniques. Borodin also convinced Sun to admit the small (300) communist party into his nationalist movement and create the first United Front between the KMT and CCP. This was a potentially powerful move to bring unity and stability to China. This United Front thus combined the conservative and leftist political movements of China. Unity was essential to overcome the warlords, who dominated all of north China. Nonetheless, this is where the conflict between the two China’s begins. For all their cooperation, the two ideologies, communism and nationalism, would prove absolutely incapable of working together for long. Some consider this to be Sun’s greatest mistake. Once given legitimacy, the communists would be very difficult to control.
Additionally, Sun and his followers established a military academy to train officers in the struggles to come. Known as the Whampoa Military Academy, it played a critical role in the centuries major conflicts. In 1924 Sun Yat Sen appointed the general Chiang Kai Shek to be the first commandant of the Academy. Chiang had met Sun in Japan and became a devoted follower. Over the years he had proved his faithful commitment to Sun, even at the risk of his own life. Subsequently, several Academy members, including Chiang, were sent to Russia for training. He remained, at least in word, dedicated to Dr. Sun’s principles throughout his career. In a 1942 message to the New York Herald Tribune Forum on Current Problems Chiang asserted “(our) Revolution is the attainment of all three of Dr Sun’s basic principles.” After the death of Sun Yat Sen in 1925, Chiang continued his rise to power. He became commander in chief of the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) and in June, 1927 began the long-awaited “Northern Expedition” with the objective of destroying the warlords and reuniting the country.
What do you think of the early 20th century in China? Let us know below.
Now read Victor’s article on the explosive history of the bikini here.
