The Republic of China’s (ROC) war of resistance against Japan is not over and efforts are still needed to protect the nation from the polarization and havoc caused by pro-independence individuals cultivated by Japan, a retired army general said yesterday.
Former Veterans Affairs Commission chairman Hsu Li-nung (許歷農) made the remarks in a speech at the Taipei launch for a book about the Second Sino-Japanese War, which was published to mark the 70th anniversary of the “ROC’s recovery of Taiwan” on Oct. 25, 1945.
“Following the end of World War II, the ROC government began reconstruction of its revival base of Taiwan, an island strategically located in the Western Pacific and in a sea route vital for Japan’s shipment of daily supplies and strategic materials,” Hsu said.
While the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation mandated that Japan return territories it had stolen from the ROC, including Taiwan, the Pescadores Islands (Penghu) and Manchuria, Tokyo has not been able to reconcile itself to those requirements, he said.
Japan has cultivated a large group of pro-Taiwan independence individuals, including 300,000 Japanese who were not deported from Taiwan following the end of the war and 2 million Taiwanese, Hsu said.
“They have endeavored for years to infiltrate Taiwan’s major political parties, the political arena, the army, judicial organizations and the media in an effort to create social divisions, cause damage and push for independence,” he said.
“I do not think I have to name these pro-independence people since we all know pretty much who they are,” said Hsu, a former director of the army’s Department of General Political Warfare who is now chairman of the pro-unification New Alliance Association.
The war against Japan is far from over, he said, citing the application of the US-Japan Security Treaty to Taiwan and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s effort to revise Japan’s constitution.
“We must make a collective effort to save the ROC and the Zhonghua minzu [Chinese ethnic group, 中華民族],” he added.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who arrived at the book launch after Hsu’s speech, said that while the ROC paid dearly for the eight-year War of Resistance against Japan, its effort succeeded in keeping Japanese troops pinned down and turned the tables on them in the World War II.
“The ROC’s significant efforts in World War II have been internationally recognized. This is a historical fact that cannot be ignored,” he said.
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at