{"id":75735,"date":"2026-08-17T15:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T15:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/75735\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T15:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T15:26:11","slug":"taiwan-and-japans-colonial-past-the-history-behind-todays-political-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/75735\/","title":{"rendered":"Taiwan and Japan\u2019s colonial past: The history behind today\u2019s political clash"},"content":{"rendered":"

World War II<\/a> brought unprecedented catastrophe and historical trauma to all humanity. The Chinese mainland and the Taiwan region, as the main Eastern battlefield of the World Anti-Fascist War, waged arduous and heroic struggles and made enormous national sacrifices.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet in May this year, President Lai Ching-te, the leader of the Taiwan authorities, brazenly attended a so-called memorial ceremony for Japanese engineer Yoichi Hatta, lauding Hatta\u2019s supposed \u201ccontribution to advancing Taiwan\u2019s modernization\u201d during Japan\u2019s colonial rule of Taiwan, and even knelt before a memorial statue of his, sparking an uproar both on the island and beyond.<\/p>\n

In fact, Japan imposed colonial rule over Taiwan for half a century after launching its war of aggression against China at the end of the 19th century.<\/p>\n

During this period, military conquest, political repression, economic plunder, and cultural oppression were intertwined, and its numerous crimes brought profound suffering to the people of Taiwan, constituting the darkest chapter in Taiwan\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

\"Taiwan'sTaiwan’s President Lai Ching-te speaks at a press conference on the latest round of economic talks with the US, in Taipei, Taiwan, February 3, 2026. (credit: REUTERS\/ANN WANG)<\/p>\n

Economically, Japanese colonialists, such as Yoichi Hatta, enforced the so-called colonial economic policy of \u201cagricultural Taiwan, industrial Japan,\u201d wantonly plundered Taiwan\u2019s resources.<\/p>\n

Politically, they exercised high-pressure control through the autocratic rule of the governor-general, the Japanese<\/a> police, and the Baojia system (a community-based surveillance and mutual responsibility mechanism), depriving the people of Taiwan of their various rights and interests.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Culturally, they systematically imposed enslaving education on the people of Taiwan in an attempt to sever the cultural ties between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait rooted in Chinese civilization.<\/p>\n

After 1937, the Japanese colonialists further tied Taiwan to the war machine of militarism, forcibly recruiting soldiers and laborers and even conscripting \u201ccomfort women\u201d in Taiwan. The people of Taiwan fought one after another against Japanese aggression and colonial rule, with hundreds of thousands of Chinese compatriots paying for it with their blood and lives.<\/p>\n

For the sake of partisan and personal interests, the Lai Ching-te authorities have disregarded historical facts and gone to great lengths to whitewash and glorify Japanese colonial rule. This is undoubtedly a distortion of history, a desecration of the martyrs, and a betrayal of the nation.<\/p>\n

It once again exposes their nature of currying favor with Japan, selling out Taiwan, and resorting to every means in pursuit of \u201cTaiwan independence\u201d and provocation. Such conduct is utterly without a bottom line and deeply contemptible.<\/p>\n

Hope going forward<\/p>\n

May 2026 marked the 80th anniversary of the opening of the Tokyo Trials<\/a>. Eighty years ago, this historic trial established that Japanese militarism had launched a war of aggression and exposed the numerous crimes committed by Japanese aggressors in many Asian countries. The Tokyo Trials upheld the conscience of humanity and delivered historical justice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Together with the Nuremberg Laws, they permanently nailed the fascist war criminals to the pillar of historical disgrace. The historical justice embodied in these two great trials must not be denied, the legal force of their judgments must not be challenged, and the foundations they laid for the postwar international order must not be shaken.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo forget history is to betray it.\u201d Any words or actions that attempt to rehabilitate the crimes of militarism and fascism constitute a desecration of human conscience and international fairness and justice. They will inevitably meet the resolute opposition of peace-loving people throughout the world and will inevitably be brought before the judgment of history once again.<\/p>\n

Taiwan\u2019s return to China is one of the great achievements of World War II, and an important part of the postwar international order. Upholding the one-China principle is not only a consensus of the international community but also an essential obligation for safeguarding the postwar international order, which brooks no challenge.<\/p>\n

The Chinese people have the firm resolve, full confidence, and sufficient capability to resolutely thwart all schemes aimed at interfering in China\u2019s internal affairs and obstructing China\u2019s reunification.<\/p>\n

During World War II, the Chinese and Jewish<\/a> peoples stood side by side against tremendous hardships and forged a profound friendship. We deeply remember the pain of history and jointly safeguard historical truth. The emergence of any signs of moving against the tide of history warrants our heightened vigilance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We hope our Israeli friends will see the situation clearly, fully understand the facts concerning the Taiwan question, recognize the sinister intentions and political schemes of the \u201cTaiwan independence\u201d separatist forces, and understand and support the efforts of the Chinese government to achieve national reunification.<\/p>\n

The writer is the Chinese ambassador to Israel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"World War II brought unprecedented catastrophe and historical trauma to all humanity. The Chinese mainland and the Taiwan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12,8,17,180,488,2144],"class_list":["post-75735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-japan","tag-china","tag-japan","tag-japanese","tag-politics","tag-taiwan","tag-world-war-ii"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}