aaron lieberman's List: Taiwan research

• Taiwan was officially regarded by Qing Emperor Kangxi as "a ball of mud beyond the pale of civilization" and did not appear on any map of the imperial domain until 1683.

  • very important for the Qing dyansties interpretation of Taiwan and it seeming to be rather insignificant in their opinion
• • convincing point, but possibly opinionated
• Prior to the Qing Dynasty, the China was conceived as a land bound by mountains, rivers and seas. The idea of an island as a part of China was unfathomable to the Han prior to the Qing frontier expansion effort of the 17th Century.^[8]

  • seems valid due to the ignoring of Taiwan by China until Quing dynasty, possibly opinonated
• predominantly aboriginal population until 1662, setting up a tax system, schools to teach romanized script of aboriginal languages and evangelizing.^[11] Although its control was mainly limited to the western plain of the island, the Dutch systems were adopted by succeeding occupiers.

  • Dutch setting up their own system, still predominately aborianese populated
• The Dutch East India Company (VOC) administered the island and its
• referred to by Han as "The Gate of Hell" for its reputation in taking the lives of sailors and explorers.

  • wonderful view of Taiwan, good quote for Taiwans lack of importance and it actually being shunned by the mainland
• The Dutch built a second administrative castle on the main island of Taiwan in 1633 and set out to earnestly turn Taiwan into a Dutch colony
• having their village razed by fire

  • dutch attacking and terrorizing true natives of Taiwan
• In 1661, a naval fleet led by the Ming loyalist Koxinga, arrived in Taiwan to oust the Dutch from Zeelandia and establish a pro-Ming base in Taiwa
• Koxinga was born to Zheng Zhilong, a Chinese merchant and pirate, and Tagawa Matsu, a Japanese woman, in 1624 in Hirado, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan

  • man who first set up "Chinese kingdom/launching point" was half Japanese half Chinese, but a ming loyalist
• in the hope of establishing a strategic base to marshal his troops to retake his base at Amoy. In 1662, following a nine month siege, Koxinga captured the Dutch fortress Zeelandia and Taiwan became his base

  • very similar to Nationalist retreat to Taiwan in 1949
• He died four months thereafter in a fit of madness

  • "kindgom" still held on for 20 years see kingdom of Tungning
• In 1683, following a naval engagement with Admiral Shi Lang, one of Koxinga's father's trusted friends, Koxinga's grandson Zheng Keshuang submitted to Qing Dynasty control.
• Despite the expense of the military and diplomatic campaign that brought Taiwan into the imperial realm, the general sentiment in Beijing was ambivalent. The point of the campaign had been to destroy the Zheng-family regime, not to conquer the island.

  • didn't care about the island only about conquering the opposition
• The Qing tried to protect aboriginal land claims, but also sought to turn them into tax paying subjects. Chinese and tax paying aborigines were barred from entering the wilderness which covered most of the island for the fear of raising the ire of the non taxpaying, highland aborigines and inciting rebellion. A border was constructed along the western plain, built using pits and mounds of earth, called "earth cows", to discourage illegal land reclamation.

  • what seperates the qing occupation from any other foreign occupation?

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• The Kingdom of Tungning existed for just over 20 years, but due to its parallels to the current political status of Taiwan, it continues to hold great symbolic value.

   

  After its defeat in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the Republic of China (ROC), led by the Kuomintang, retreated to Taiwan, leaving Mainland China to the Communist Party who later established People's Republic of China (PRC). For the next several decades, the ROC was devoted to regaining the mainland, by maintaining island bases in proximity to the mainland (e.g. Quemoy), just as Koxinga and his descendents had done. Although the ROC has since democratized and is no longer singularly devoted to reconquering the mainland, the political and territorial arrangement has remained unchanged. In this respect, there is a striking parallel between the Qing/Koxinga situation and the current PRC/ROC situation.

   

  The Kuomintang of the ROC have, unsurprisingly, focused on the goals of Koxinga, i.e. to use Taiwan as a base for restoring their government to Mainland China, parallel to how they view themselves as the defenders of the ROC, and Taiwan as a base from which the ROC will regain the mainland. The PRC has generally focused on the fact that Koxinga liberated Taiwan from Dutch colonialism for the sake of the motherland, while downplaying the fact that Koxinga was in fact devoted to overthrowing the mainland government at the time to restore a previous dynasty.

  • argument against china's inherent right/possesion of taiwan

• The Chinese

  China

  
  China is a Culture of China and ancient civilization in East Asia. Due to the stalemate of the last Chinese Civil War following World War II, the word "China" is used today by two de facto separate states: the People's Republic of China and...
   Qing Dynasty

  Qing Dynasty

  
  The Qing Dynasty , occasionally known as the Manchu Dynasty, was a Chinese Dynasties founded by the Manchu clan Aisin Gioro, in what is today northeast China, expanded into China and the surrounding territories, establishing the Empire o...
   ruled Taiwan

  Taiwan

  
  Taiwan is an island in East Asia, but the term "Taiwan" is also commonly used to collectively refer to the territories governed by the state officially known as the Republic of China , which include the island of Taiwan, Orchid Island a...
   from 1683 to 1895. Qing China in 1683 led an army of general Shi Lang

  Shi Lang

  
  Shi Lang was a Ming Dynasty-Qing Dynasty admiral who had extensive experience in southeastern China....
  , which annexed Taiwan

  Taiwan

  
  Taiwan is an island in East Asia, but the term "Taiwan" is also commonly used to collectively refer to the territories governed by the state officially known as the Republic of China , which include the island of Taiwan, Orchid Island a...
  .
• Qing Emperor Kangxi annexed Taiwan because he wanted to remove the remaining resistance forces

  Kingdom of Tungning

  
  The Kingdom of Tungning was the first Han Chinese government to exist on Taiwan, between 1661 and 1683....
   against the Qing Dynasty. However, Qing did not want to develop Taiwan over aggressively as this may encourage any potential resistance force to build a base in Taiwan. Accordingly, the early Qing Dynasty ruled Taiwan passively. Taiwan was governed as part of Fujian province at the time, only becoming a separate province later.
• There were more than a hundred rebellions

  • obviously b/c of native lands and more foreign occupation in the minds of the natives, just like the dutch, spaniards and later the Japanese
• Qing had two main policies relating to the governance of Taiwan. The first policy was to restrict the qualification and number of migrants who were allowed to cross the Taiwan strait

  Taiwan Strait

  
  The Taiwan Strait or Formosa Strait is a 180km-wide strait between mainland China and the island of Taiwan....
   and settle in Taiwan. This was to prevent a rapid growth in population. The other policy was to restrict Han Chinese

  Han Chinese

  
  The Han is an ethnic group originating from China. As the ethnic group forming the majority of the Chinese population, it is the largest single human ethnic group in the Earth, numbering over 1.3 1000000000 people....
   from entering the mountain area which was mainly settled by Indigenous Taiwanese peoples

  Taiwanese aborigines

  
  Taiwanese aborigines or aboriginal peoples are the indigenous peoples of Taiwan. Their ancestors are believed to have been living on the islands for approximately 8,000 years before major Han Chinese immigration began in the 1600s....
  . This policy was to prevent conflict between the two groups of settlers.

  • policies involved migration and conflicts between chinese and indigenous peoples
• Despite the restrictions, the population of Han Chinese in Taiwan grew rapidly from 100,000 to 2,500,000, while the population of Taiwanese Aborigines shrank.
• the Qing government was not interested in managing this matter. It simply drew the borders and closed up the mountain area so they could segregate the two groups.

  • the qing dyansty therefore wasn't extremely concerned with Taiwan, wasn't one of their priorities whatsoever
• The Han people occupied most of the plains and developed good agricultural systems and prosperous commence, and consequently transformed Taiwan into a Han society.
  
  Taiwan had a strong agricultural sector in the economy, while the coastal provinces of mainland China

  Mainland China

  
  Mainland China is term which is usually synonymous with the area currently administered by the People's Republic of China ; however, it usually excludes the two special administrative region s administered by the People's Republic of China: H...
   had a strong handcrafting sector, the trade between the two regions prospered and many cities in Taiwan such as Tainan

  Tainan

  
  Tainan City is the fourth largest city in Taiwan after Taipei, Kaohsiung, and Taichung. It is officially administrated as a provincial city of Taiwan Province in the Republic of China....
  , Lukang

  Lukang

  
  Lukang is a township in northwestern Changhua County, Taiwan Province of the Republic of China....
   and Taipei

  Taipei

  
  'Taipei City' is the capital city of the Republic of China. It is Republic of China's center of politics, commercial, mass media, education, and pop culture, and today also is widely considered to be one of the "Global city #Gamma world cities...
   became important trading ports.

  • strong argument for chinese rights to taiwan based on them possibly being the first group to advance china in various ways forming a "Han society"
• During 1884-1885, the Sino-French War

  Sino-French War

  
  The Sino-French War or Franco-Chinese War was a war fought between the French Third Republic and Qing Dynasty that lasted from September 1884 to June 1885....
   affected Taiwan. Qing then realised the strategic importance of Taiwan in relation to trade and geographical location and decided rapidly developed Taiwan. In 1885, Taiwan became a province, and Liu Mingchuan

  Liu Mingchuan

  
  Liu Mingchuan was a China official during the Qing dynasty, born in Hefei in Anhui province. He became involved in the suppression of the Taiping rebellion at an early age, and worked closely with both Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang....
   was appointed as the governor. He increased the administrative regions in Taiwan to tighten control and to reduce crime. He implemented land reform and simplified land management. As a result of the land reform, the taxation received by the government increased by more than three folds. He also developed the mountain area to promote harmony between the Han Chinese and the Indigenous Taiwanese peoples.
  
  However, modernisation of Taiwan was his main achievement. He encouraged the use of machineries and built military defence infrastructure. He also improved the road and rail link systems. In 1887, he started building the first Chinese built railway and it was completed in 1893. In 1888, he opened the first post office in Taiwan and that was also the first in China. Taiwan was then considered the most developed province in China.

  • very important. did not become of major significance until 1984-85 than vast improvements were made. only 10 years however before it was ceded to Japan

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• In the San Francisco Peace Treaty (SFPT), Japan renounced all right, title and claim to the island group. Under international law, Japan could no longer claim sovereignty over Taiwan after the peace treaty came into effect on April 28, 1952.   
  
  What were the arrangements for the final disposition of Taiwan? Unfortunately, most civilian scholars say that there is no answer to that question. The SFPT did not specifically state to which country the sovereignty of Taiwan was being transferred.
• Indeed, the US State Dept. informed the Senate in 1970 that "As Taiwan and the Pescadores are not covered by any existing international disposition, sovereignty over the area is an unsettled question subject to future international resolution."
• The military government of the (principal) occupying power does not end with the coming into force of the peace treaty, but continues until "legally supplanted" by a recognized civil government.
• Any claims of territorial sovereignty over Taiwan have to be based on the possession of "territorial title." Clearly, the ROC was not awarded that title in the SFPT.
• Contrastingly, from 1952 to today, there has been no announcement of the end of USMG jurisdiction over Taiwan.
• Also, we know that under the Taiwan Relations Act, the nomenclature of the "Republic of China" is not recognized after Jan. 1, 1979!!
• After examining the historical record and the content of the SFPT, it can be held that the ROC is merely exercising delegated administrative authority for the military occupation of Taiwan.

  • summing up argument
• Of course, most important to the Taiwanese people is the fact that if neither (a) Taiwan nor (b) the Republic of China are "states" in the international community, then "Republic of China" is not an internationally recognized nationality, and Taiwanese people are essentially stateless.

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