President William Lai (賴清德) on Friday gave a speech in Kinmen to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Guningtou, when Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) forces defeated the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in a decisive turning point in the Chinese Civil War.
The battle, which became known as the Great Victory at Guningtou (古寧頭大捷) in Taiwan, or “The Battle of Quemoy” in Western historiography, is viewed as the battle which not only halted the momentum of the PLA and saved Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) forces in Taiwan, but also set the stage for the Cold War in Asia.
“It was the battle that saved the Republic of China [ROC] ... turning the tide of history and sealing for the future the general pattern of the Cold War confrontation in Asia,” military analyst and former On Taiwan columnist Miles Yu (余茂春) wrote in an analysis of the battle.
Compared with his predecessor, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Lai is taking a more robust approach to the history of the Republic of China, especially its military history, consolidating the nation’s and military’s identity around the ROC as a symbol of resistance against communist China and as the defender of modern Taiwan’s freedom and democracy.
“The Battle of Guningtou makes us realize that democracy and freedom are not something to be taken for granted,” Lai said. “We treasure a democratic and free way of life, and we cannot, and will not, allow any external force to change the future of Taiwan.”
Throughout the Cold War, the Battle of Guningtou was a “focal point and symbol of the epic struggle between communist and noncommunist forces,” Yu wrote.
Lai is channeling this Cold War history and repurposing it for the present.
Unlike his Democratic Progressive Party predecessors Tsai and former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), Lai served in the military — he was even deployed to Kinmen as a captain with the Medical Platoon of the 824th Division’s 5th Infantry Battalion — an experience which no doubt shaped his worldview and makes him more comfortable speaking about the military and the ROC’s history.
The importance of the victory in the Battle of Guningtou is that it prevented the PLA from attaining a staging ground — Kinmen Island — from which to launch an invasion of Taiwan proper.
At the time of the battle, Kinmen “assumed supreme strategic importance,” as whoever controlled it “controll[ed] the sea access in and out of Xiamen and the adjacent coastal areas,” Yu wrote.
The PLA experienced a crushing defeat — three regiments totaling more than 9,000 soldiers were entirely wiped out — but it also served as a lesson, which was that an amphibious invasion of Taiwan would require a different set of skills and equipment than war on land.
“After the defeat at Quemoy, we learned our lesson; our head became more clear and lucid. Perhaps the real significance of learning from the lessons and experience of our Quemoy operation lies exactly here,” former PLA general Ye Fei (葉飛) had said.
For Taiwan, the battle is a reminder of the heroic sacrifices made by the ROC forces to defend their nation against communism and tyranny, which redounds to the present in the form of Taiwan’s democracy.
It is also a reminder that the PLA never gave up on its ultimate ambition, which is to destroy the ROC’s forces.
For democratic Taiwan, the Battle of Guningtou is a source of pride, of the Taiwanese’s achievements in becoming a peaceful and democratic society, and a reminder that with the PLA waiting in the wings, democracy always needs to be defended and fought for.
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