Taiwan's Past Still Not Reconciled or Honestly Dealt with by Some KMT

Saturday February 25, by Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

Recent remarks by Hau Pei-tsun, a former premier of Taiwan and retired KMT military revealed the problems and divisions that still exist in Taiwan as Hau attempted to pooh-pooh the idea that some 10,000 Taiwanese were killed in the 2-28 Incident; and that another 20,000 more were killed in the 40 year White Terror period that followed as the KMT would rule Taiwan as a one-party state under Martial Law. The KMT came to Taiwan from 1945--1949, and allegedly in the name of democracy kept the island under Martial Law until 1987.

Hau's remarks rubbed salt in the wounds of many Taiwanese who still have not seen any substantial form of transitional justice and return of the stolen state assets by which the KMT remains one of the richest political parties in the world.

What needs much more in depth examination and exposition is how the KMT has not been able to face the reality of the past. In reality, the KMT were a diaspora, on the run in 1949 but they have tried to justify their crimes and actions by clinging to the name Republic of China (ROC) as if they were the true heirs of the 1911 still born revolution that cast off the Manchu Empire in Asia but started an on-going Civil War with many war lords from Yuan Shi-kai on to claim rule. Even Sun Yat-sen was on the wrong side of that civil war in the past if one examines what was legitimate and what was not at different periods. I have written in the past on this Civil War from 1911 on and of which Taiwan was not a part. Taiwan was only dragged into it when the losing diaspora of the KMT fled there in 1949 after their defeat at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.

Chiang Kai-shek justified his martial law by saying he was going to retake China--another stillborn lie. The ROC as described in the 1947 Constitution is a similar fabricated lie that faded in 1949. The KMT can only cover their corruption and loss by saying that the ROC of that Constitution still exists. Like unwanted baggage the name does remain but all else must be covered in subterfuge. More will follow on this.