A Brief History of Taiwan

Capital: Taipei
Population: 23,113,901 (July 2012)
Languages: Mandarin Chinese (official), Taiwanese, Hakkanese
Religions/Beliefs: Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, Christianity

Located in the waters off China’s southeastern coast, Taiwan or the Republic of China is
home to 23 million people ranging from members of the earliest aboriginal tribes to the
most recent immigrants. With its dynamic history and culture, present-day Taiwan, one
of the “Economic Tigers” of East Asia, boasts a flourishing export industry and
recognizes three main spoken languages: Mandarin Chinese (official), Taiwanese, and
Hakkanese, with over 10 aboriginal dialects still in existence. While perhaps best known
in the United States for its complicated political relationship with China, Taiwan, whether
viewed as a province or as a nation in its own right, represents a fascinating union of
diverse cultural influences and histories.

Early History
At the time the Portuguese explored what they named Ilha Formosa (“Beautiful Isle”) in
the sixteenth century, Taiwan was inhabited by groups of aboriginal people1. Today,
remnants of the eleven major aboriginal groups still remain, forming approximately 2
percent of Taiwan’s overall population. Although the Portuguese decided not to colonize
Taiwan, other European powers settled on the island including the Spanish, who
established themselves in Keelung. In 1624 the Dutch also gained a foothold in Taiwan
when they established the fort of Zeelandia (present-day Tainan) along the coast. By
1640, the Dutch had gained control of Taiwan by ousting the Spanish, and a prosperous
trade emerged between Taiwan, the Dutch East Indies, and mainland China. Dutch
colonizers generally viewed the Taiwanese indigenous population as “savage” and paid
them little attention.

1
Taiwan’s aboriginal people are linguistically descended from people who inhabited the islands
of the central and south Pacific

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Meanwhile, the Manchus on the mainland were busy solidifying their control over China
as the new Qing dynasty. Pockets of resistance from Chinese loyal to the former Ming
dynasty (1368–1644) remained, especially in southern China. Residents from Fujian and
Guangdong provinces, many of them Hakkanese, were drawn to Taiwan, seeking fortune
and/or to escape the economic and political turmoil. The incoming Chinese drove the
aboriginal population into the mountainous region in the eastern part of Taiwan. By the
end of the nineteenth century, the Chinese became the majority.

Koxinga
Also known as Zheng Chenggong, Koxinga2 (1624–1662) was a legend of the seas born
of a Japanese mother and a Chinese father. Considered by the Chinese and Japanese to be
a Ming loyalist and by the Dutch to be a pirate of the Taiwan Straits, Koxinga provided
naval support and troops to the collapsing Ming dynasty in their battle against the
Manchus from 1646 to 1660.

Koxinga financed his military expeditions through his lucrative international trade, and
he posed a threat to the fledgling Qing dynasty. He failed to take the capital of Nanjing,
in 1661, but with his fleet of 900 ships, he launched an attack on the Dutch fortress of
Zeelandia. The following year he successfully drove the Dutch out of Taiwan, thus
establishing Chinese control of the island for the first time in 1662. Koxinga died later
that same year.

Koxinga’s descendants tried to maintain control of Taiwan, developing the island’s

agriculture and trade industry. But the Qing dynasty would not tolerate any potential
threat to their supremacy, and in 1683, the Zheng family surrendered in the face of a
well-planned imperial onslaught (see Chapter 3).

2
While his given name is Zheng Chenggong, “Koxinga” is the westernized pronunciation of the
Ming imperial surname bestowed upon him for his loyalty.

2
Taiwan Under the Qing (1683–1895)

After their success in Taiwan and the removal of Koxinga’s troops and family from the
island, the Qing decided to make Taiwan a military buffer zone between China and the
Dutch.3 Taiwan was declared part of the territory of Fujian Province with Tainan as its
capital city. The Qing put several measures in place to ensure control over the new
territory. For example, they discouraged emigration to Taiwan and permitted only limited
contact across the Taiwan Strait. They stationed permanent troops on the island and
insisted that aboriginal territories be respected. With these measures in place, Taiwan
would remain a prefecture of Fujian for approximately 200 years until in 1887 with its
population exceeding 2.5 million, it gained provincial status.

Taiwan Under Japanese Rule (1895–1945)

Taiwan remained a part of China until Japanese forces crushed Qing troops in the 1894
Sino-Japanese War (see Chapter 7). Under the terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki signed
the following year, the Qing ceded Taiwan to Japan “in perpetuity.”

The Taiwanese initially objected to life under Japanese rule, and a group of the
Taiwanese ruling class founded the Formosan Republic on May 25, 1895 with the
financial and military support of Qing officials. Despite Qing support, the Japanese
efficiently suppressed the independence movement by seizing Tainan in October of the
same year and ending the rebellion. The seizure of the new republic’s capital effectively
ended the rebellion, once more establishing Japanese rule over the island.

The Japanese were to rule Taiwan for the next fifty years despite a number of small
uprisings. Unlike their brutal occupation of mainland China from 1936 to 1945 (see
Chapter 11), the Japanese controlled Taiwan as a colony that they wished to develop.
They strengthened the island’s infrastructure, building schools, roads, a transportation
system and hospitals, and improved the economy by introducing new agricultural
techniques and some industry.

3
Spence, Jonathan D. The Search for Modern China, 57

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The 1940s
During World War II, Taiwan remained under Japanese control. The Allies met at several
conferences during the course of the war. In 1943, at the Cairo Conference, the Allies
signed an agreement whereby Taiwan and Manchukuo (Manchuria) would be returned to
China upon Japan’s defeat. Thus, when the war ended in 1945, Chiang Kai-shek (head of
China’s Guomindang or Nationalist government) appointed Chen Yi to act as chief
administrator over Taiwan. However, the Taiwanese, acclimated to prospering under
Japanese rule, protested against Chen’s corrupt and inept rule and in February 1947
staged a rebellion that culminated in bloodshed, with Guomindang forces firing on
demonstrators. Following the “2-28 Incident,” Chen then ordered the detainment and
execution of thousands of Taiwanese intellectuals and leaders. With Taiwanese morale
shattered, Chiang Kai-shek focused on plans for readying Taiwan as a possible future
base to which the Guomindang could retreat, fortifying the island with troops and
military equipment (see Chapter 12).

The Republic of China

When the Communists established the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949,
Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan and established the Republic of China (ROC). Thus
began the dispute over which was the rightful government of “China.” Was it Chiang
Kai-shek’s Guomindang government in exile in Taiwan or Mao Zedong’s Chinese
Communist Party on the mainland?

The San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1952 signed between the United States and Japan
following World War II only served to complicate matters. According to the terms of the
treaty, Japan would retract all claims to Taiwan, whose status would later be decided by
the United Nations charter. However, the United Nations pointed to the futility of
supporting Chiang Kai-shek’s forces in Taiwan, as they viewed the Guomindang retreat
as an admission of weakness. Thus, the United Nations continued to ignore the delicate
question of the island’s status and Chiang Kai-shek continued to govern Taiwan.

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Ruling under martial law, Chiang Kai-shek outlawed criticism of his government and
denied citizens freedom of the press. Despite his reign of “white terror,”4 Chiang Kai-
shek proved to be a more effective ruler than Chen Yi, introducing land-reform programs
in an effort to boost Taiwan’s economy.

Factories grew to provide inexpensive goods for both domestic and export purposes, and
trade zones and tax incentives were established to attract foreign investment. Receiving
$1.5 billion in foreign aid from the United States during this time, Taiwan quickly
became one of Asia’s wealthiest economies. Many countries including the United States
viewed the Guomindang government in Taiwan at this time to be the legitimate
government for both mainland China and Taiwan.

Foreign Relations
During the 1950s and 1960s, the United States also provided significant military aid to
Taiwan, establishing the Military Assistance and Advisory Group on the island. For
example, after the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, President Harry Truman provided
a naval fleet to patrol the Taiwan Straits to discourage a possible Chinese invasion of
Taiwan. Four years later, under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the United States
signed a Mutual Defense Treaty with Taiwan, guaranteeing U.S. protection.

However, in the 1960s, the United States and mainland China began to explore a
normalization of their relationship, and the United States ceased to provide Taiwan with
foreign aid for development in 1964 (see Chapter 15). With the onset of “Ping-Pong
diplomacy” in 1971 and President Nixon’s visit to mainland China the following year, the
United States moved even closer to establishing ties with the Communist government of
mainland China. Following suit, in 1971, the United Nations General Assembly voted
Taiwan out of its UN seat, giving that seat to the People’s Republic of China instead. In
yet another massive blow to Taiwan’s claims of sovereignty, China and the United States
jointly issued the Shanghai Communiqué on February 28, 1972:

4
In Elegy of Sweet Potatoes: Stories of Taiwan’s White Terror author Tsai Teh-pen refers to the
ruthless martial law enforced by Chiang Kai-shek in Taiwan during this time.

5
 The United States acknowledges that all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan
Strait maintain there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part of China. The
United States Government does not challenge that position. It reaffirms its
interest in a peaceful settlement of the Taiwan question by the Chinese
themselves. With this prospect in mind, it affirms the ultimate objective of the
withdrawal of all U.S. forces and military installations from Taiwan. 5

In succeeding years, one by one, many nations withdrew formal recognition of Taiwan,
the Republic of China. The United States ended diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979,
but in April of that year passed the Taiwan Relations Act, which emphasized continuing
U.S. commitment to Taiwan. According to the act, “the future of Taiwan will be
determined by peaceful means,” and the United States promised to “resist any resort to
force or other economic forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the
social or economic system, of the people in Taiwan.” The Taiwan Relations Act did not
affect other nations’ views towards Taiwan, and today, only twenty-five nations (mostly
in Latin America) still recognize the ROC as the legitimate government of all of China.
Despite the lack of formal recognition, Taiwan continues to preserve economic ties with
numerous capitalist nations and in 2001 was officially named a member of the World
Trade Organization.

Moving Towards Democracy

Chiang Kai-shek’s death in 1975 spelled the beginning of the end of the “white terror”
that Taiwan had experienced. Though Chiang Ching-kuo, his son, assumed the
presidency with no formal dissent, unlike his father, Chiang Ching-kuo allowed
opposition to his rule and did not quell the 1986 formation of the Democratic Progressive
Party, Taiwan’s first genuine opposition party. The year before his death in 1988, Chiang
Ching-kuo declared the end of martial law in Taiwan.

1988 hailed the first legitimate two-party election in Taiwan, and Lee Tenghui became
the first Taiwanese-born president. Also known as “Mr. Democracy,” Lee introduced free

5
http://www.taiwandocuments.org/communique01.htm

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elections to the National Assembly in 1991 and lifted media restrictions, paving the road
for the democratic Taiwan the world knows today.

Taiwan Today
A multi-party democracy, Taiwan’s modern-day government is composed of five
branches: executive, legislative, control, judicial, and examination. The executive,
legislative, and judicial branches serve much of the same functions as their counterparts
in the United States. The control branch’s main function includes managing public
services, investigating charges of corruption within the government, and measuring
efficiency. For example, the control branch can investigate corruption charges and
impeach those found guilty. Acting in the capacity of a human resources department, the
examination branch manages the government’s personnel system, conducting
professional, technical, and civil service examinations. The president possesses executive
power over all five of the branches while continuing to manage the tricky political
situation between China and Taiwan.

While the “one China” question remains unsolved, Taiwan and China conduct an
expanding and lucrative import and export business across the Taiwan Strait. In 2001,
China became Taiwan’s largest export market and by 2007 fielded over 80 percent of
Taiwan’s foreign investment. 2005 saw the opening of direct flights between Shanghai,
Beijing, and Guangzhou on the mainland and Taipei and Gaohsiung in Taiwan. The
direct flights marked a new opening of cross-straits relations, allowing not only
businessmen but also relatives and tourists to travel conveniently between mainland
China and Taiwan. In 2010, China and Taiwan signed the Economic Cooperation
Framework Agreement, a landmark free trade agreement that cut tariffs on many goods
and services and reduced commercial barriers. The bilateral deal represents the most
significant step to date in normalizing cross-strait relations, and is meant to serve as a
stepping stone for Taiwan—long hampered by diplomatic isolation—to negotiate trade
pacts with other countries in the region.

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As China and Taiwan’s economies become increasingly interdependent, both
governments appear to be committed to maintaining the status quo, leaving the “one
China” question unresolved. “Not independent but not reunified,” China and Taiwan
enjoy peaceful cross-straits relations and both continue to grow economically.

By Diana Lin, Harvard University Graduate School of Education

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