Recently Chinese leaders met with President Biden. They made it clear that they would reunite Taiwan with China. They set no timetable and hoped it could be done peacefully. With that in mind I thought it was appropriate to remember how we got here.
There was once a lovely island off the coast of China. It was serene. Most of the population fished for a living or lived on small farms. They were aloof from the trials and tribulations of the world. The island was called Formosa, and it was less than 100 miles off the coast of mainland China. It had been conquered many times in past centuries by the Dutch, the Japanese, and the Chinese but none of these altered the character of the Formosans who continued to lead their passive lives…until!
To understand the present reality, it’s necessary to remember that Mainland China had been in the midst of a Civil War when they were invaded by Japan in 1937. The Communists, led by Mao Zedong, had been battling the Nationalists, led by Chiang-Kai-Shek. Chiang’s Kuomintang. It was a corrupt government but supported by the United States while. Mao’s army got their materiel from the Soviets. Mao had the popular support of the people in China’s vast undeveloped rural areas. Both sides agreed to pause their war when Japanese forces invaded but in 1945, once Japan was defeated, their conflict resumed.
It wasn’t going well for Chiang’s army. It lost battle after battle until they controlled little more than the big eastern cities of Beijing and Shanghai. In 1949, Mao’s troops captured Beijing and raised their flag as more than a million of Chiang’s forces, and most of the country’s treasury, fled to Formosa, hoping to continue their struggle. The island was formerly renamed Taiwan and its largest city, Taipei, became its capital.
The new government in China was furious. They wanted to pursue Chiang and destroy the Nationalists once and for all.
The Taiwan Straits, the waters between mainland China and Formosa are also home to the small islands of Quemoy and Matsu, part of a string of islands less than ten miles from China’s shores…imagine an enemy off the coast of Southern California in Catalina bombing Redondo beach. That’s what Chiang’s artillery was doing. Mao gave the order to invade, get rid of those nationalist thugs once and for all. The United States was unwilling to permit that happen.
It was early 1950, China had just annexed Tibet and t the threat of Mao’s invasion of Formosa/Taiwan increased. In June North Korean forces poured across the border and the Korean War began, We’d had enough! Our neutrality ended and we moved our fleet into the Straits to separate the “Two” Chinas.
Mao was furious and expanded his military support to North Korea.
The Korean War ended in 1953 and Mao no longer threatened Taiwan.
In 1999 Hong Kong was returned to China. The territory was promised a ‘hands-off’ policy but in recent years that promise has eroded. In 2008 direct flights began between China and Taiwan and cooperation between the two has steadily increased.
But make no mistake, China and Taiwan share a common heritage and China will absorb Taiwan when the time is propitious. Think of it as Ukraine #2, world geo-politics.
Meanwhile, Taiwan has become a vibrant democratic society with a very clouded future and the few Formosans who remain have continued to fish and farm.