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Taiwan Declares Peace With China
| Article
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19319 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
Date : |
6 / 1991 |
2,269 Words |
| Author
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John F. Copper
John F. Copper is the Stanley J. Buckman Distinguished
Professor of International Studies at Rhodes College in
Memphis, Tennessee. |
In his inaugural speech May of last year, Taiwan's President Lee Teng-hui promised to end the state of war between Taiwan and China that has existed for 42 years. More precisely, Lee said that he would terminate the "period of national mobilization for suppression of communist rebellion" that is a part of Taiwan's law. His promise went into effect at the end of April, 1991.
Ending the war with Beijing, or terminating the "period of rebellion," may not be as meaningful as some historical events, but it still has significance. In some ways, a period of history has come to an end.
In 1948 and 1949 Mao's armies defeated Nationalist forces on the Chinese mainland. Chiang Kai-shek's military and government fled to Taiwan, and on October 1, 1949, Mao proclaimed a new government: the People's Republic of China (PRC). In the spring of 1950 Mao's army made plans to invade Taiwan, but his invasion troops became infected with liver flukes and the attack was delayed for several weeks. In June the Korean War started, and President Truman ordered the Seventh Fleet to the Taiwan Strait to block an imminent invasion.
In 1954 and again in 1958 Mao attacked the Nationalist-held islands of Quemoy and Matsu just off the China coast, apparently as a prelude to trying again to "liberate" Taiwan. Taiwan responded by continuing to enforce the "period of mobilization" laws and promising to liberate China from communist rule. During the chaos after the Great Leap Forward, when bad economic planning led to famine in the early 1960s, and again in the anarchic days of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in the late 1960s, there seemed to be some flicker of hope that the Nationalists might have a chance to free China from the "communist bandits." But this was not to be.
In 1978, the Carter administration seemed to "sell out" Taiwan when it switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing while supporting China's assertion that there was only one China and Taiwan was a part of China. But Congress did not agree: It subsequently passed the Taiwan Relations Act--which all but formalized relations with Taiwan once again and made provision for the United States to guarantee Taiwan's welfare and security. Although a stalemate continued, there have been no serious confrontations in recent years. In fact, war between the two Chinas seems only a remote possibility. And now, Taipei wants to reduce hostilities with China. This effort involves ending the state of war.
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