PRC propaganda on Taiwan

Copyright ©1999, by Dr. Sebo Koh

Paper presented at "Exposing Communist Chinese Government Influence in America" Conference, Orlando, Florida May 15, 1999

Because Chinese claim on Taiwan is largely based on the twisted Sino-centric views of the history of Taiwan, a brief description of the history of Taiwan is in order here.

Since the time immemorial, there are people on the Island of Taiwan. These are the Malayo-Polynesian Pacific people, whose tribes still exist on Taiwan today. During the 13th to the 15th century, the Japanese, Dutch and Spanish established settlements in Taiwan for trades and use the island as way stations for their fleets. Portuguese marked the island on their sea charts as "Ilha Formosa", "The Beautiful Island", thus the Western name "Formosa". In small numbers, Han people from China also begin to immigrate to this island. In 1642, Dutch settlement firmly established in southern Taiwan with the consent of the Southern Chinese Commander who said that Taiwan "lay beyond the imperial territory of China." China specifically prohibited its people to set foot on this barbaric island, where "birds do not sing, and flowers do not bloom". But it was during this period of Dutch occupation that Southern Chinese immigrated in larger numbers. Man came alone in these dangerous and harsh ventures and inter-marriage between Han men and the aborigines women became the norm. Presently, most of the Taiwanese carry in their blood the genes of Malayo-Polynesians.

In 1644, Manchurians overran Chinese Ming Dynasty and established, on China, an empire that was regarded as foreign to the Chinese. Koxinga, a Ming patriot, unable to resist Manchurians, defeated Dutch and established his own little kingdom on Taiwan. In 1684, Koxinga's grandson surrendered to the Manchurians. But the Manchurian Ching Dynasty continues to prohibit its people from immigrating to Taiwan, and regarded Taiwan as outside of its civilization.

Therefore it was not regarded as a big loss when in 1895, Manchurian Ching Dynasty lost a war with Japan and ceded Taiwan in perpetuity to Japan at the Shimonoseki Peace Conference. 50 years later, in 1945, at the end of WW2, Japan surrendered.Under General MacArthur's authorization, Chiang Kai-Shek's Nationalists' Army receive the surrender, for the Allied Forces, of Taiwan from the Japanese. In 1952, the concluding treaty of WW2, the San Francisco Peace Treaty, stated that Japan would give up all its claims on Taiwan. The future of Taiwan remains unspecified. The future of Taiwan is to be determined by the people of Taiwan.

In 1947, only two years after Nationalist Chinese occupation of Taiwan, Taiwanese rose up in rebellion against the corruption and oppression of the Chinese -- the "228 Incidence". Chinese brutally suppressed the uprising, killing 20,000 taiwanese and proclaimed marshal law, which lasted for 40 years.

In 1949, Communist Chinese defeated Nationalist Chinese and proclaimed the establishment of People's Republic of China. Nationalist Chinese moved their Republic of China to Taiwan. It has ruled Taiwan since then.

Thus, in the last few centuries, Taiwan has been occupied by various different people, but to be noted is the indisputable fact that PRC has never ruled Taiwan for even one single day. Taiwan has been isolated from China for centuries and has developed its own cultural, economic and political systems different from those of PRC's.

Aside from the propaganda on the "blood line" theory, PRC also has systemically penetrated into various facets of American society. In business, because of advertised potential huge market in China, American big business have become the richest and most influential lobby for China and at no cost to China. Human rights issues have been sacrificed for trade. For the fear of offending China, big business also pushed for discouraging Taiwan independence. China has made the US held off the admittance of Taiwan into the World Trade Organization, despite Taiwan's achievements on the international trade as trustworthy partners.

In academia and government, which are often the revolving doors for scholars, are also have been penetrated by China. Most of the so-called China scholars are pro-China and favors status quo for Taiwan, with eventual unification in mind. China scholars risk the cutoff of information from China, should they speak against Chinese interests. The real benefits received by being pro-China are also substantial. Scholar/politicians like Kissinger and Scowcroft are actually paid to lobby for China. The "New China" lobby are full of past officials of the US government and powerful academia.

PRC also has both of its hands in the party politics of the US. Tens of millions of dollars have flowed into the political campaign process, from local elections to the presidential elections. Has Bill Clinton been bought by Chinese? The investigations have just began. Is there a connection between the pronouncement of the "3 no's" by Clinton in China and the Chinese money? While visiting China, Clinton stated that the US did not support Taiwan independence and would not support Taiwan's entry into international organizations.

We need to expose these Chinese propaganda schemes, not only for the sake of Taiwan, but also for the security of the United States of America.

Dr. Sebo Koh can be reached by email at: sebokoh@ameritech.net

Second Panel:"Exposing Chinese Government Propaganda"


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