Most of you remember Formosa being the name often used for the island that lies between the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean. That name came from Portuguese sailors, who, upon sighting the island in 1542, reportedly exclaimed “Ilha Formosa!” – “Beautiful Island.” But ever since that island came under Chinese sovereignty, the official name has been Taiwan.
Taiwan was incorporated into China’s Qing
Empire in 1684 and
remained under Chinese sovereignty until it was ceded to Japan in 1895. At the
close of the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-95), the Treaty of Shimonoseki
contained a provision that ceded Taiwan to Japan “in perpetuity.”*
On October 25, 1945, the Republic of
China (ROC) accepted Japan’s surrender in Taipei, Taiwan, and took over the
island’s administration and unilaterally declared Taiwan a province of China
and termed it “Retrocession Day.” The Allied powers, though, did not formally
recognize that unilateral annexation.
One of my faculty colleagues at Seinan
Gakuin University from 1968 to the 1990s was born in Taiwan in the 1930s. He
was one of the roughly half a million Japanese residents living in Taiwan at
the end of WWII. Almost all these Japanese civilians were sent back to Japan,
and this process was largely completed by the end of 1946.
Chiang Kai-shek relocated the Republic
of China (ROC) government to Taiwan
in December 1949, following the Nationalists' defeat in the Chinese Civil War. Mainland
China under Mao Zedong (or Tse-tung until 1958) officially became the People’s
Republic of China (PRC) on October 1, 1949, and remains so to this day.
Chiang became the sole head of the ROC
in a de facto sense by 1928, but he was not formally inaugurated as the first president
of China until May 1948, and then he resigned after eight months. After relocating
to Taiwan, though, he was re-elected and served as the ROC president for 25
years, from March 1950 until his death (at age 87) in April 1975.
Chiang’s arrival in 1949 was opposed/resisted
by many Taiwanese, who viewed Chiang and the leaders of the Nationalist Party
as outsiders imposing mainland authority over the island. And indeed, most
Taiwanese citizens were unable to vote directly for their president from the
ROC’s relocation to Taiwan until the first direct presidential election in
1996.
Taiwan is now under direct political
threat from PRC President Xi Jinping, who insists the island will eventually be
“reunited” with the mainland and refuses to renounce the use of force.
At the same time, President Trump’s
assertive foreign policy has demonstrated a willingness to use military power
for strategic objectives, from operations in Venezuela to repeated statements
that the United States “needs” Greenland, leaving open the possibility of
force.
With Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae
Takaichi—who has led Japan since October—openly stating that a Chinese attack
on Taiwan could justify Japanese military action alongside the United States,
the growing normalization of force by major powers risks lowering the threshold
for Xi Jinping to pursue reunification of Taiwan by military means.
This piece has been a brief summary of Taiwan’s past from 1684 until 1996, and a bit about the current situation there. But who knows what will happen in the near future! Let’s pray that the uncertain present doesn’t lead to a major conflagration.
An excursus about Chiang Kai-shek’s Christian
faith. In 1927,
Chiang married Soong Mei-ling (1898~2003), whose parents were prominent Methodist
Christians. Her parents initially opposed the marriage because Chiang was not a
Christian. He promised, though, to study Christianity before their wedding,
which he did, and then he was baptized as a Methodist Christian in 1930.
Rev. Chow Lien-hwa (1920~2016) was a leading Baptist pastor, theologian, and Bible
scholar in Taiwan and a longtime spiritual adviser to the Chiang family. He
served for decades as pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Taipei and was
sometimes known as the Chiang family’s “palace pastor.”
Chow was also deeply influential in
theological education, serving as president of the Asia Baptist Graduate Theological
Seminary (ABGTS) from 1993 to 2005. I had the privilege of serving for several
years as a trustee of that institution, including being the board chair toward
the end of his term, which ended when he was 85. I remember having interesting conversations
with Rev. Chow during trustee dinners.
_____
*
Shimonoseki City is located at the westernmost point of Honshu, the main
and largest island in the Japanese archipelago. Since 1973, it has been
connected by a bridge to Kyushu, the southwesternmost of Japan’s four main
islands. It is only a little over 50 miles from Fukuoka City, where I lived
from 1968 to 2004.
** The Chinese character for Soong has
long been written in English letters as Song, and it is the same character as the
family name of C.S. Song, the much-respected Chinese/Taiwanese theologian, whom
I wrote about in an
October 2019 blog post.
A few minutes ago, I saw "Washington’s Silence in Asia Is a Gift to Beijing," a Jan. 28 article posted by "Foreign Policy" magazine:
ReplyDelete"As the world braces for U.S. President Donald Trump’s next foreign policy shock, a far quieter American defeat has been unfolding in Asia. Since the fall, the Trump administration has stood silent as China unleashed its fury on both Japan and Taiwan, leaving two close U.S. allies to fend for themselves.
"Trump’s reticence is not accidental. Beyond a narrow set of economic issues, the U.S. president has evinced little interest in China’s profound challenge to the United States, much less how that is playing out in the Indo-Pacific."
Here are comments from Thinking Friend Eric Dollard in Chicago.
ReplyDelete"Thanks, Leroy, about your observations regarding Taiwan, a place I visited in February 1997. .... I would prefer for Taiwan to remain independent, but that may not be realistic. One approach would be for a very gradual integration of Taiwan into China, economically and diplomatically, while preserving Taiwan's democratic institutions. That may also be unrealistic as China has failed to uphold democratic institutions in Hong Kong. Nonetheless, the US needs to do more to de-escalate tensions between China and Taiwan, although I believe Trump lacks the imagination, interest, or commitment to do so."
Perhaps I didn't develop the point as much as I should have, but right-wing Prime Minister Takaichi of Japan (who is the first woman to be a PM in that male-dominated society---but still ahead of the U.S. in that regard) caused waves by saying that she would be in favor of supporting the U.S. in keeping the PRC from taking over Taiwan. But Trump seemingly has little interest in helping Taiwan in spite of the huge amounts of financial aid the U.S. has given Taiwan for their military defense against China. (Over $5 billion was given in 2024 under Pres. Biden.)
DeleteWith Trump's apparent vision of regional dominance by a select few world powers, a military effort by China would be met by a lot of vocabulary from Trump and probably little else. His efforts to control the western hemisphere would be interrupted if he tried to focus on the western Pacific. Unless there is a significant change in the leadership of the PROC, I see drastic changes in the political make-up of the nations in that region. If the USAmerica shows no willingness to defend Taiwan, the Philippines and Japan are in great danger. Kim in N. Korea may also see this as his chance to prove his god-like powers. In respect to Taiwan itself, it has been an independently operating nation almost as long as Israel. No one but a few Arab states questions Israel's right to exist. What would/could the UN do in case of military action?
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thought-provoking comments, Tom. Although I see a strong possibility that Xi will increasingly seek all means possible, including military force, to "reunite" Taiwan with China, I don't see him being a threat to the Philippines or Japan as this point. But the Japanese generally seem to be quite wary of what Kim Jong-un, head of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, might do. He seems like a "loose cannon," and loose cannons always pose a threat.
DeleteA couple of hours ago, a Thinking Friend who is an octogenarian and lives near St. Louis sent me an email with he following brief comments.
ReplyDelete"Very interesting! I didn’t not know any of that. Trump has no clue, and does not care about the consequences of his actions!"
Trump may be in the process of creating more "facts on the ground" than he realizes. (Or, maybe that is exactly his plan, considering how he is.) It is easy to image a revised world order where Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines are all Chinese colonies. Even more consequential, if Trump blows up NATO, Russia and Europe may surprise him by making peace with each other and forming a new NATO-the NORTH ARCTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION. At least this would give Trump a clear path to bombing Venezuela, invading Cuba, and making Canada a 51st state. Not exactly peace on Earth, goodwill towards men, but possibly good news for most people on Earth. No doubt Trump would blame it all on Obama, and proceed to figure out what he could do to make Democrats even more miserable.
ReplyDeleteI just finished a 2008 book I left on my shelf way too long before reading. It is The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia--and How It Died. The author "Philip Jenkins, obtained his doctorate in history from Cambridge University. Since 1980, he has taught at Penn State University and currently holds the rank of Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of the Humanities in History and Religious Studies." (from book jacket) I bring this up because his history of Christianity reminded me regularly of Trump's government. Genocides regularly erupted all over based on stupid governing and reactions to stupid governing. For instance, I learned that the Mongol invaders were a motley collection of Buddhists and Christians. At first the conquered Christians of the Middle East and Asia thought this was good news, as they got rid of their Muslim overlords, but then the Mongols started intermarrying with the Muslim elites, and eventually became Muslims themselves. Very bad news for Christians. Very ironic as well, as Jenkins thinks Islam started as a Christian reform movement, much as Christianity started as a Jewish reform movement, noting, for instance, that Ramadan much resembles ancient eastern Lent practices. Meanwhile, the Byzantine Empire and Roman Church continued to make eastern Christians look bad, which was also really bad news. Still, Nestorian and Jacobite Christians held on, but an aggressive western world accelerated Muslim repression of Christians, and in the 20th century the once majority Christian populations dropped precipitously from significant minority in 1900 to almost nothing in 2000. Now a few small groups, aided by better choices and better luck and geography held on longer, but even the Copts in Egypt and the Christians of Ethiopia are under pressure. He notes that the term "genocide" was not created until about 1943, by scholar Raphael Lemkin, who during the Holocaust saw a need for a legal term for the ancient process. Trumps have always been with us. Armageddons regularly happen. Every religion has done it. Every religion has had times of peace. Can we find a way to end the cycle?
Craig, once again you have posted thought-provoking comments. While I think that the PRC does have the intention of "reunifying" Taiwan with China, I think it is quite far-fetched to think that South Korea and especially Japan will become Chinese colonies.
ReplyDeleteWith reference to Philip Jenkins (b. 1952), as you likely know (and many others probably don't), he has been a professor at Baylor University since 2012. I quoted him in a sermon I preached in 2014. I also heard him speak at Baylor at a meeting I attended there in 2015--and I have seen numerous references to him in the years since then. According to Copilot that I just consulted, he is the author of 49 (!) books, and the 2008 book you referred to is given as his most important/influential one. But, I'm sorry to say, I have not read it. I have been most interested in his 2002 book, "The Next Christendom: The Rise of Global Christianity."