Government-funded videos marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II portrayed a “historically inaccurate” version of the transfer of Taiwanese sovereignty after the war and failed to review the history “from a Taiwan-centered perspective,” a National Chengchi University professor of Taiwanese history said yesterday.
As part of the government’s year-long plan to publicize the role of the Republic of China’s (ROC) armed forces and government in World War II, five videos commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were posted on the “Trending Taiwan” YouTube channel, leading to debate among people who watched them.
The university’s Graduate Institute of Taiwan History chair Hsueh Hua-yuan (薛化元) said that the government reviewed history “through the lens of the ROC [as opposed to that of Taiwan].”
“I have no problem with that, except some parts of the videos were not historically accurate,” Hsueh said.
“The problem is, with regard to the history of Taiwan, what was portrayed was completely wrong,” Hsueh said.
The series of five videos, each about five minutes long, begin in the first video, Settlement, Colonialism and Modernity, with a timeline of Taiwanese history starting in the mid-17th century — when Han Chinese moved to Taiwan and the nation was incorporated into the Qing Dynasty empire — and spanning to the present.
The other four videos portray the ROC leading China to victory over Japan, saying that the ROC is owed a debt of gratitude for its “unequal contributions” to the defeat of the Axis powers and for supporting the end of foreign empires in Asia.
The videos say that World War II would have taken a different course without the ROC’s contributions.
They say that “the ROC was the key force behind the Allied victory over Japan.”
Hsueh said the videos’ repeated mentioning of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender being handed over to Chinese General Ho Ying-chin (何應欽) in 1945 to justify the return of Taiwan to the ROC was “historically inaccurate.”
The document clearly states that Ho, as a representative of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), accepted the Japanese surrender on behalf of the Allied powers, not China, Hsueh said.
“If the government insists that the Japanese Instrument of Surrender effected a transfer of [Taiwanese] sovereignty, does it also claim sovereignty over northern Vietnam, as it was also listed in the document?” Hsueh said.
Neither the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, the Cairo Declaration nor the Potsdam Proclamation are recognized by international law as legal documents to transfer the nation’s sovereignty to the ROC as the videos claim, Taiwan Association of University Professors secretary-general Hsu Wen-tang (許文堂) said.
Both Hsueh and Hsu criticized the omission of events depicted in the first video, including the 228 Incident in 1947, the White Terror era from 1949 to 1987 and other major events of importance to Taiwan.
As of yesterday, the third video in the series, featuring National Chengchi University assistant professor of history Joe Eaton explaining why the ROC is “owed a debt of gratitude,” was the most viewed at 3,536, with 115 comments, 110 likes and 91 dislikes since its release on Wednesday.
The third video sparked heated debate among people on social media.
Ministry spokesperson Anna Kao (高安) said the videos’ scripts were written by the ministry after consultation with experts and academics.
The videos are to be officially launched at events that are to be attended by descendants of World War II heroes during their visits to Taiwan next month and in September, Kao said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
RSS