Within a little more than a decade, from the early 1940s to the mid-1950s, the making of Nationalist China in Taiwan was a process involving political complications and contingencies, policy planning and maneuvering, actions and inactions, and historical ironies. It was a process that no one could have foreseen when the fate of Taiwan and the Pescadores was originally contemplated on both sides of the Pacific, during World War II. To many Americans as well as Chinese, it was perhaps also surprising that no one in the Washington administration, from Franklin D. Roosevelt through Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower, could have expected to become involved, whether intentionally or unwittingly. The formation of the accidental island state on Taiwan, separate from the Chinese mainland, was the outcome of many ad hoc and unique factors, decisions, and even serendipity, as well as an accumulation of various internal contentions within the Nationalist camp, the KMT-CCP civil war, and political struggles intersected with the broader geostrategic concerns of world powers.
As this book has indicated, the investigation into how an accidental island state in Taiwan came to be has unearthed several little-known historical events and produced new interpretations. A long-forgotten foreign policy choice and the resultant political actions on the part of the United States toward post-World War II China, envisioning a gradually divided and regionalized China, strengthened Taiwan’s political identity and distinguished it from the mainland. The negligent role obliquely played by George Kerr in the events surrounding the February 28 incident of 1947 helped promote a political-economic setup on Taiwan that would lead to the creation of an unintended state years later. For a time surrounding the outbreak of the Korean War, the biggest contingency in the period covered by this book, the U.S. policy toward the Nationalists headed underground and was considerably privatized. We now know that Charles M. Cooke and his unofficial advisory group helped prolong the ailing Nationalist regime’s survival in Taiwan. It was the KMT’s preliminary reform imposed in the aftermath of the 1947 tragedy, and then a series of intentional and somewhat inglorious political/national security measures undertaken in the early 1950s to consolidate its rule and reinforce its legitimacy, that laid the foundation for the Nationalist state in Taiwan. Finally, it was Chiang Kai-shek who, at every critical juncture in an extremely fluid and uncertain situation, made decisions that would translate into institutional arrangements and eventually lead to the accidental formation of an island state, his last territorial refuge.
While the thaw in the China-Taiwan relationship has become one of the most salient developments in East Asia’s international politics in the first decade of the twenty-first century, the time is opportune to explore how such a cross-Strait division originated, how the Nationalist state was created on the island of Taiwan, and how the United States played its part in the process of this state construction. It is hoped that this book has gone a considerable way in answering some of these important questions.
Glossary of Names and Terms
Notes
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index
Glossary of Names and Terms
Bai Chongxi 白崇禧
Bai Hongliang 白鴻亮
banshan ren 半山人
Cao Shicheng 曹士澂
Chang Kia-ngau 張嘉璈
Chen Cheng 陳誠
Chen Jitang 陳濟棠
Chen Lifu 陳立夫
Chen Yi 陳儀
Cheng Qian 程潛
Chiang Ching-kuo 蔣經國
Chiang Kai-shek 蔣介石
Dai Li 戴笠
De Wang (Prince Demchugdongrob) 德王
fabi 法幣
Feng Baiju 馮白駒
Formosa League for Re-emancipation 台灣再解放聯盟
Fu Jingbo 傅涇波
Fu Zuoyi 傅作義
Gan Jiehou 甘介侯
Gui Yongqing 桂永清
Hu Shi 胡適
Hu Weida 胡維達
Hu Zongnan 胡宗南
Huang Chaoqin 黃朝琴
Huang Jie 黃杰
Peter Huang (Huang Jinan) 黃紀男
Jiang Biao 江杓
Ke Taishan 柯台山
Ke Yuanfen 柯遠芬
V. K. Wellington Koo (Gu Weijun) 顧維鈞
leduo youshao 樂多憂少
Li Jishen 李濟深
Li Mi 李彌
Li Peiji 李培基
Li Zonghuang 李宗黃
Li Zongren 李宗仁
Thomas Liao (Liao Wenyi) 廖文毅
Lin Biao 林彪
Lin Dingli 林頂立
Lin Shaonan 林紹楠
Lin Xiantang 林獻堂
Long Yun 龍雲
Lu Daoyuan 魯道源
Lu Han 盧漢
Ma Bufang 馬步芳
Ma Chengxiang 馬呈祥
Ma Jiyuan 馬繼援
Ma Hongkui 馬鴻逵
Mao Bangchu 毛邦初
Mao Zedong 毛澤東
nuhua 奴化
Peng Dehuai 彭德懷
Peng Mengqi 彭孟緝
Qiu Changwei 邱昌渭
Qiu Niantai 丘念台
qu fenbu 區分部
Radreng Hutuktu 熱振呼圖克圖
Ren Xianqun 任顯群
Shao Yulin 邵毓麟
su jian 肅奸
Sun Fo (Sun Ke) 孫科
Sun Liren 孫立人
T. V. Soong 宋子文
Taiwan Geming Tongmenghui 台灣革命同盟會
Taktra Rimpoche 達札仁波切
Tanaka Giichi 田中義一
Tang Enbo 湯恩伯
Tang Zong 唐縱
Tomita Naosuke 富田直亮 (白鴻亮)
Tong Guanxian 童冠賢
Wei Daoming 魏道明
weiwei bu huaide 畏威不懷德
Weng Wenhao 翁文灝
Wu Guozhen (K. C. Wu) 吳國楨
Wu Sanlian 吳三連
Wu Shi 吳石
Wu Songqing 吳嵩慶
Wu Xingyong 吳興鏞
Wu Zhongxin 吳忠信
Xiang Weixuan 向惟萱
xiaozu 小組
Xie Nanguang 謝南光
xin jun 新軍
xingzheng zhangguan 行政長官
Xiong Shihui 熊式輝
Xu Chongzhi 許崇智
Xue Yue 薛岳
Yamamoto Jotaro 山本条太郎
Yang Lianggong 楊亮功
Yang Zhaojia 楊肇嘉
George Yeh (Ye Gongchao) 葉公超
yintui 引退
Yu Chengwan 余程萬
Yu Hanmou 余漢謀
Yu Hongjun 俞鴻鈞
Ziyou Zhongguo Laogong Tongmeng 自由中國勞工同盟
Zhang Fakui 張發奎
Zhang Qiyun 張其昀
Zhang Qun 張群
Zhang Zhizhong 張治中
Zheng Jiemin 鄭介民
Zheng Xue Xi 政學系
Zhongguo Minzhu Gemingdang 中國民主革命黨
Zhou Enlai 周恩來
Zhou Hongtao 周宏濤
Zhou Zhirou 周至柔
Zhu Shaoliang 朱紹良
Notes
Abbreviations
AMFA-1
Academia Historica, Waijiaobu Dang’an [Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs]
AMFA-2
Institute of Modern History Archives, Academia Sinica, Waijiaobu Dang’an [Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs]
CAB
The National Archives, London, United Kingdom, Cabinet Office Records
CB
Academia Historica, Choubi [Plans and Directives]
CKSD
Hoover Institution Archives, Chiang Kai-shek Diaries
CRCA
Hoover Institution Archives, Zhongguo Guomindang Zhongyang Gaizao Weiyuanhui Dang’an [Archives of the KMT Central Reform Committee]
FO
The National Archives, London, United Kingdom
, Foreign Office Records
Formosa 1945–1949
Confidential U.S. State Department Central Files: Formosa, Internal Affairs 1945–1949
Formosa 1950–1954
Confidential U.S. State Department Central Files: Formosa, Republic of China 1950–1954
GW / ZZS
Academia Historica, Geming Wenxian. Zhengzhi: Zhengjing Zhongyao Sheshi [Revolutionary documents. Politics: Important Political and Economic Measures]
PCKSC / JXWZ
Academia Historica, Jingguo Xiansheng Wendian Ziliao [Source materials relating to Chiang Ching-kuo]
PCKSC / JZJ
Academia Historica, Jiang Zongtong Jiashu. Zhi Jiang Furen Shuxin [President Chiang Kai-shek’s family letters. Correspondence with Madame Chiang Kai-shek]
RG
U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group
TD
Academia Historica, Tejiao Dang’an
/ DHW
Waijiao. Dui Han Waijiao [Specially submitted archives. Foreign Affairs. Korea]
/ DMW
Waijiao. Dui Mei Waijiao [Specially submitted archives. Foreign Affairs. United States]
/ FF
Waijiao. Fangwen Feilubin [Specially submitted archives. Foreign Affairs. Visit to the Philippines]
/ GQX
Waijiao. Guofang Qingbao ji Xuanchuan [Specially submitted archives. Foreign Affairs. National defense, intelligence, and propaganda]
/ GSJ
Junshi. Guofang Sheshi Jihua [Specially submitted archives. Military. National defense installations and planning]
/ JMBZ
Junshi. Jin-Ma ji Bianqu Zuozhan [Specially submitted archives. Military. Operations in Quemoy, Matsu, and border regions]
/ MJY
Waijiao. Meiguo Junshi Yuanzhu [Specially submitted archives. Foreign Affairs. U.S. military assistance]
/ MXT
Waijiao. Meiguo Xiefang Taiwan [Specially submitted archives. Foreign Affairs. U.S. defense of Taiwan]
/ SX
Junshi. Shijian Xueshe [Specially submitted archives. Military. The Society of the Practice]
/ XQG
Waijiao. Xifang Qiye Gongsi [Specially submitted archives. Foreign Affairs. The Western Enterprises Incorporated]
/ XW
Zhengzhi. Xizang Wenti [Specially submitted archives. Politics. Tibetan issues]
/ YZ. 1950
Yiban Ziliao. Minguo Sanshijiunian [Specially submitted archives. General Information. Year 1950]
/ YZ. 1951
Yiban Ziliao. Minguo Sishinian [Specially submitted archives. General Information. Year 1951]
/ ZJBJ
Junshi. Zhongyang Junshi Baogao ji Jianyi [Specially submitted archives. Military. Military reports and proposals]
/ ZJJR
Junshi. Zhongyang Junshi Jiguan Renshi [Specially submitted archives. Military. Military organizations and personnel]
/ ZJS
Junshi. Zuozhan Jihua ji Shefang [Specially submitted archives. Military. Military operations and fortifications]
/ ZJX
Junshi. Zongtong dui Junshi Xunshi [Specially submitted archives. Military. President Chiang Kai-shek’s military instructions]
/ ZQJ
Junshi. Zhongyang Qingbao Jiguan [Specially submitted archives. Military. Central government intelligence apparatus]
Introduction
1. For a general and yet somewhat simplified description about the KMT’s retreat to Taiwan, see, for example, Jonathan D. Spence, The Search for Modern China (New York: W. W. Norton, 1990), 504–513; Jonathan Fenby, Modern China: The Fall and Rise of a Great Power, 1850 to the Present (New York: HarperCollins, 2008), 353–375; Michael Dillon, China: A Modern History (London: I. B. Tauris, 2010), 259–283.
2. On the “patron-client state relationship,” see, for example, Christopher C. Shoemaker and John Spanier, Patron-Client State Relationships: Multilateral Crises in the Nuclear Age (New York: Praeger, 1984), 10–14; John Spanier, Games Nations Play, 7th ed. (Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly, 1990), 12–14.
3. See, for example, Bruce Gilley, “Not So Dire Straits: How the Finlandization of Taiwan Benefits U.S. Security,” Foreign Affairs 89 no. 1 (2010): 44–60; Charles Glaser, “Will China’s Rise Lead to War?” Foreign Affairs 90 no. 2 (2011): 80–91; Glaser, “Disengaging from Taiwan: Should Washington Continue Its Alliance with Taipei?” Foreign Affairs 90 no. 4 (2011): 179–182; Nancy Bernkopf Tucker and Bonnie Glaser, “Should the United States Abandon Taiwan?” Washington Quarterly 34 no. 4 (2011): 23–37; Shelley Rigger, “Why Giving Up Taiwan Will Not Help Us with China,” Asian Outlook no. 3 (2011): 1–8, http://www.aei.org/publication/why-giving-up-taiwan-will-not-help-us-with-china/.
CHAPTER 1 ▪ Taiwan in the Balance
1. China had fought with Japan since mid-1937. After the Pearl Harbor attack in December 1941, China joined the United States, Britain, and Soviet Russia to become the “Big Four,” leading the Allied powers.
2. Chiang Kai-shek Diaries (CKSD), diary entry for October 31, 1943, Box 43.
3. CKSD, diary entry for November 18, 1943, Box 43.
4. For a careful analysis of wartime China’s policy debates about its lost territories, see Xiaoyuan Liu, A Partnership for Disorder: China, the United States, and their Policies for the Postwar Disposition of the Japanese Empire, 1941–1945 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 55–80.
5. CKSD, diary entry for October 3, 1921, Box 3.
6. CKSD, diary entry for March 11, 1927, Box 5.
7. See, for example, CKSD, diary entry for February 19, 1933, Box 36.
8. John F. Copper, Taiwan: Nation-State or Province? (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1999), 33–34.
9. For more about the history of the Nationalist Chinese Consulate General in Taipei, see Hsu Hsueh-chi, “Riju Shiqi Zhonghua Minguo Taibei Zonglingshiguan, 1931–1937” [The Taipei Consulate General of the Republic of China during the Japanese period, 1931–1937], in Riju Shiqi Taiwan shi Guoji Xueshu Yantaohui Lunwenji [International Symposium on the history of Taiwan during the Japanese occupation period] (Taipei: Department of History, National Taiwan University, 1993), 559–633.
10. Qin Xiaoyi, ed., Zongtong Jianggong Sixiang Yanlun Zongji [General collections of President Chiang Kai-shek’s thoughts and speeches], vol. 15 (Taipei, Taiwan: KMT Party Historical Committee, 1984), 186–187; Hungdah Chiu, ed., China and the Question of Taiwan: Documents and Analysis (New York: Praeger, 1973), 203.
11. For the editorial and the American analysis, see “Formosa,” April 6, 1942, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Record Group (RG) 165, Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs, Military Intelligence Division Regional Files, 1942–1944, Box 797.
12. KMT Taiwan Provincial Party Headquarters, ed., Zhongguo Guomindang Taiwansheng Dangbu Shouren Zhurenweiyuan Weng Junming Xiansheng Jinian Tongxiang Jiemu Tekan [Special publication for the unveiling of the commemorative statue of the first chairman of the KMT Taiwan Provincial Party Headquarters] (Taichung, Taiwan: KMT Taiwan Provincial Party Headquarters, 1975), 9–13.
13. Referring to Taiwan’s future status with China in June 1942, officials from the Nationalist Ministry of Foreign Affairs only stated that the island’s return “seemed fitting to the Chinese because the greater part of the population was Chinese and had continued to maintain close ties with China.” See John S. Service, third secretary of the U.S. embassy in China, memorandum, June 17, 1942, Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) diplomatic papers, 1942: China, 733.
14. See Office of War Information, Office of Strategic Services (OSS), “Taiwan (Formosa): Anti-Japanese Episodes in Taiwan from 1895 to the Present,” August 22, 1944, NARA, RG 226, Records of Office of Strategic Services, Entry 211, Box 4; J. Bruce Jacobs, “Taiwanese and the Chinese Nationalists, 1937–1945: The Origins of Taiwan’s ‘Half-Mountain People’ (Banshan ren),” Modern China, 16 no. 1 (1990): 99–100.
15. As Alan M. Wachman argues, the statu
s of Taiwan was elevated from “Nationalist indifference” to a territory that should be claimed back due to China’s geostrategic imperative during and after World War II. See Wachman, Why Taiwan? Geostrategic Rationales for China’s Territorial Integrity (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2007), 69–82.
16. Chiang Kai-shek, China’s Destiny (New York: Roy, 1947), 9–11.
17. See T. V. Soong, “Summary of Impressions, 1943,” personal memorandum, T. V. Soong Papers, Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University, Box 32.
18. George H. Kerr, Okinawa: The History of an Island People (North Clarendon, VT: Tuttle, 2000), 342–420. For more information about Qing China’s loss of Ryukyu to Japan in the 1870s, see also Michael H. Hunt, The Making of a Special Relationship: The United States and China to 1914 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1985), 115–142.
19. Supreme National Defense Council minutes, December 20, 1943, in Qin Xiaoyi, ed., Guangfu Taiwan zhi Chouhua yu Shouxiang Jieshou [Plans on recovering Taiwan, receiving Japanese surrender, and taking over Taiwan] (Taipei, Taiwan: KMT Party Historical Committee, 1990), 36–38.
20. CKSD, diary entry for November 15, 1943, Box 43.
21. U.S. Department of State, Occupation of Japan: Policy and Progress (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1946), 51–52.
22. Clarence E. Gauss to Cordell Hull, December 4, 1943, FRUS 1943: China, 177–178.
23. “The United States in a New World, II: Pacific Relations,” supplement, Fortune (August 1942): 11–12.
24. Ibid. See also Liu, A Partnership for Disorder, 71–72.
25. Qin Xiaoyi, ed., Zhonghua Minguo Zhongyao Shiliao Chubian—Dui Ri Kang Zhan Shiqi [First selection of historical materials on the Republic of China—the period of the war against Japan] (Taipei: KMT Party Historical Committee, 1981), 3 (1), 777–778.
26. Gauss to Hull, November 5, 1942, FRUS 1942: China, 174.
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