History of Taiwan (1945–present)

The Second World War's hostilities came to a close on 2 September 1945, with the defeat of the Empire of Japan and Nazi Germany. Taiwan, which had been ceded to Japan by the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895, was placed under the control of the Kuomintang-led Republic of China (ROC) with the promulgation of General Order No. 1 and the signing of the Instrument of Surrender on that day.

He Yingqin, the ROC representative at the Japanese surrender ceremonies established the Office of the Chief Executive of Taiwan Province separate from the provincial-level executive system on mainland China. After the establishment of the provincial executive office, Chen Yi was appointed Chief Executive. Chen proclaimed 25 October to be Retrocession Day. However, because Japan had not formally relinquished the sovereignty of Taiwan at that time, Allies of World War II did not recognize the unilateral annexation of Taiwan by the Republic of China.

Chen Yi's administration was marred by corruption, as well as a lack of discipline in the military police assigned to occupation duties, resulting in a severe undermining of the chain of command. With the rampant corruption in his administration, Chen Yi began to monopolize power. In addition to this, the island's post-war economy was failing and headed into a recession, causing people on the island to endure economic hardship. The government's program of "De-Japanization" also created cultural estrangement, along with tensions between the growing population of migrants from the mainland and the pre-war residents of the island. The building tensions erupted in 1947, when the arrest of a cigarette vendor by government agents led to the death of a bystander. The clashes between police and residents that followed quickly spread across the island, and grew into a general rebellion against Chen Yi and the Chief Executive's Office in what came to be known as the February 28 Incident. Several weeks later, government troops were sent to Taiwan from the mainland to handle the crisis and to suppress any opposition or resistance to the government. Many prominent individuals in Taiwanese society, as well as other residents of the island, many of whom had nothing to do with the incident, were either killed, imprisoned without trial, or simply disappeared. The February 28 Incident was a prelude to the white terror of the 1950s, resulting in ethnic tensions between pre- and post-war residents, as well as the genesis of the Taiwanese independence movement.

Non-Kuomintang Taiwanese politician Wu San-lien (2L) celebrated his landslide victory (65.5%) in the first-time election for mayor of Taipei in January 1951 with his supporters.

After the February 28 Incident, the Kuomintang-led ROC government reorganized the local government, abolishing the Chief Executive's Office, while establishing a new provincial government. Wey Daw-ming, whose parents were scholars, became the first Governor of Taiwan Province and, during his administration, reduced the scope of the public enterprises, which had grown significantly under Chen Yi.

Wey was succeeded as governor by Chen Cheng in 1949. Wey reformed the currency system, replacing the devalued old Taiwan dollar with the New Taiwan dollar, at a 40,000:1 exchange rate, and implemented the 375 Rent Reduction Act,[1] easing the inflationary situation.

With President Chiang Kai-shek, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower waved to crowds during his visit to Taipei, Taiwan in June 1960.

In 1949, the Republic of China Armed Forces and the Kuomintang suffered a major defeat in the Chinese Civil War, forcing the Government of the Republic of China to relocate to Taiwan. This allowed the Communist Party of China to declare the establishment of a new Chinese state: the People's Republic of China. As the Kuomintang were establishing a "provisional" base in Taiwan, the party began to plan and threaten counterattacks on the Chinese mainland, hoping to retake it.

With the fall of the mainland, the United States largely wrote off the Kuomintang and Chiang Kai-Shek as incompetent, corrupt leaders who deservedly lost and was prepared to grant diplomatic recognition to the PRC. Some influential American voices expressed the cautious optimism that the newly established communist regime would be more honest and concerned about the Chinese people's welfare, especially helped by the fact that the Kuomintang deeply distrusted the US and had little in the way of common, shared values. All of this changed rapidly when the PRC intervened in the Korean War, which ruined any chance of normalizing relations with Washington for years. With mainland China now a sworn enemy of the US, the latter extended a cautious olive branch to Taipei under the adage of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". The victorious Battle of Guningtou by the ROC forces against the communist forces helped to boost morale in the ROC Army and diminished any chance by the communist forces to take Taiwan. Subsequently, the United States Seventh Fleet started to patrol the Taiwan Straits. By the 1950s, Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty was signed and US provided Military Assistance and Support to the ROC forces. The US Army maintained a garrison force in Taiwan until its withdrawal in 1979. The Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty was replaced by the Taiwan Relations Act after 1979.

The early years of ROC rule on Taiwan were grim, but by 1955, with the need for a functioning economy that produced something and so-to-speak "pay the monthly bills", the regime began encouraging the growth of light industries such as textiles and transistor radios.

Up and until 1958, small-scale military campaigns between the ROC forces and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) were carried out across the strait, which lasted until the Second Strait Crisis. From that point on, both sides of the strait have ceased all major hostilities against each other. The government under the Kuomintang, through its enforcement of martial law, kept a powerful hold on the state and its people throughout the Cold War. Because the Republic of China was under authoritarian rule, any perceived opposition to the government was considered illegal and dealt with harshly. A number of unsuccessful plots were made by the CIA to remove Chiang from power and replace him with a more pliant and less authoritarian leader. Chiang for his part never fully trusted US intentions and was wary of excessively pro-American politicians.

Despite his advancing age and questionable mental state, Chiang continued to hold onto power into the 1970s, maintaining to his dying day that he would live to rule over the mainland once again.

The Republic of China entered into the development phase of Constitutional Democracy with the promulgation of the Constitution of the Republic of China in 1947. Subsequently, the National Revolutionary Army was also renamed as Republic of China Armed Forces and was nationalized. However, due to the Chinese Civil War, the Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion was passed as amendment to the Constitution of the Republic of China. This established martial law in Taiwan and curtailed civil liberties and democracy. The official rationale for the Provisions was the ongoing Chinese Civil War and ROC was effectively under the military rule of the KMT during the period of mobilization. Taiwan was effectively under martial law.

However, with the demise of the KMT single-party system and democratization movement during the 1980s, the martial law was eventually lifted in 1987 and provisions were eventually rescinded in 1991. Constitutional Democracy was eventually restored in ROC after 1987.

When the Republic of China relocated to Taiwan in 1949, the Chinese Youth Party, China Democratic Socialist Party, and KMT were the only legal political parties in Taiwan. The other established parties operated under the Tangwai movement.

Until the early 1970s, the Republic of China was recognized as the sole legitimate government of China by the United Nations and most Western nations, refusing to recognize the People's Republic of China (PRC) on account of the Cold War. The KMT ruled Taiwan under martial law until the late 1980s, with the stated goal of being vigilant against Communist infiltration and preparing to retake mainland China. Therefore, political dissent was not tolerated.

The late 1970s and early 1980s were a turbulent time for the Taiwan-born as many of the people who had originally been oppressed and left behind by economic changes became members of Taiwan's new middle class. Free enterprise had allowed native Taiwanese to gain a powerful bargaining chip in their demands for respect for their basic human rights. The Kaohsiung Incident would be a major turning point for democracy in Taiwan.

Taiwan also faced setbacks in the international sphere. In 1971, the ROC government walked out of the United Nations shortly before it recognized the PRC government in Beijing as the legitimate holder of China's seat in the United Nations. The ROC had been offered dual representation, but Chiang Kai-shek demanded to retain a seat on the UN Security Council, which was not acceptable to the PRC. Chiang expressed his decision in his famous "the sky is not big enough for two suns" speech. In October 1971, Resolution 2758 was passed by the UN General Assembly and "the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek" (and thus the ROC) were expelled from the UN and replaced as "China" by the PRC. In 1979, the United States switched recognition from Taipei to Beijing.

Chiang Kai-shek died in April 1975 at the age of 87, and was succeeded to the presidency by Yen Chia-kan while his son Chiang Ching-kuo succeeded to the leadership of the Kuomintang (opting to take the title "Chairman" rather than the elder Chiang's title of "Director-General"). Formerly the head of the feared secret police, Chiang Ching-kuo recognized gaining foreign support to securing the ROC's future security required reform. His administration saw a gradual loosening of political controls, a transition towards democracy, and moves toward Taiwanization of the regime. Opponents of the Nationalists were no longer forbidden to hold meetings or publish papers. Though opposition political parties were still illegal, when the Democratic Progressive Party was established as the first opposition party in 1986, President Chiang decided against dissolving the group or persecuting its leaders. Its candidates officially ran in elections as independents in the Tangwai movement. In the following year, Chiang ended martial law and allowed family visits to mainland China.

Chiang selected Lee Teng-hui, a Taiwan born technocrat to be his vice president, first in the line of succession to the presidency. The move followed other reforms giving more power to native-born citizens and calmed anti-KMT sentiments during a period in which many other Asian autocracies were being shaken by.

After Chiang Ching-kuo died in 1988, his successor, President Lee Teng-hui, continued to democratize the government. Lee transferred more government authority to Taiwanese born citizens, and Taiwan underwent a process of localization. In this localization process, local culture and history was promoted over a pan-China viewpoint. Lee's reforms included printing banknotes from the Central Bank instead of the usual Provincial Bank of Taiwan. He also largely suspended the operation of the Taiwan Provincial Government. In 1991 the Legislative Yuan and National Assembly elected in 1947 were forced to resign. These groups were originally created to represent mainland China constituencies. Also lifted were the restrictions on the use of Taiwanese languages in the broadcast media and in schools.

Attempting to maintain good relations with the PRC, Taiwan avoided any criticism of the Tiananmen Square Massacre and the media was largely barred from reporting on it. A group of students who attempted to sail a chartered ship into the Formosa Strait and beam pro-democracy broadcasts into China via amateur radio were foiled by the government by putting various obstacles in their way that caused them to abandon the attempt.

However, Lee failed to crack down on the massive corruption that pervaded the government and many KMT loyalists felt that Lee betrayed the ROC by taking reforms too far, while those in the opposition felt he did not take reforms far enough.

Lee ran as the incumbent in Taiwan's first direct presidential election in 1996 against DPP candidate and former dissident, Peng Min-ming. This election prompted the PRC to conduct a series of missile tests in the Taiwan Strait to intimidate the Taiwanese electorate so that electorates would vote for other pro-unification candidates, Chen Li-an and Lin Yang-kang. The aggressive tactic prompted U.S. President Clinton to invoke the Taiwan Relations Act and dispatch two aircraft carrier battle groups into the region off Taiwan's southern coast to monitor the situation, and PRC's missile tests were forced to end earlier than planned. This incident is known as the 1996 Taiwan Straits Crisis.

One of Lee's final acts as president was to declare on German radio that the ROC and the PRC have a special state to state relationship. Lee's statement was met with the PLA conducting military drills in Fujian and a frightening island-wide blackout in Taiwan, causing many to fear an attack.

The 2000 presidential election marked the end of the Kuomintang's status as the ruling party. DPP candidate Chen Shui-bian won a three-way race that saw the Pan-Blue vote split by independent James Soong (formerly of the Kuomintang) and Kuomintang candidate Lien Chan. Chen garnered 39% of the vote. After the election, Soong formed the People First Party (PFP).

In the 2000 presidential election, Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was elected president with Annette Lu as vice-president. This was the first political party rotation in the history of the ROC. The splitting of Kuomintang vote was what apparently led to this result. In August 2002, President Chen openly indicated that the relationship between Taiwan and the mainland is "One Country on Each Side". This declaration led to disputations throughout Taiwan, in mainland China and in the United States. In 2004, the day before the 2004 presidential election, there was a supposed assassination attempt on President Chen and Vice-President Lu. They were re-elected the next day, although the Pan-Blue Coalition disputed the legality of the result due to the close margin of the election and the shooting incident. In 2005, an ad hoc National Assembly passed constitutional amendments ruling that elections for the Legislative Yuan change to use of parallel voting, aiding the formation of a two-party system.[2] As a result of scandals in the DPP administration, on 9 September 2006, former chairperson of the DPP, Shih Ming-teh, led an anti-Chen Shui-bian campaign called the Million Voices Against Corruption, President Chen Must Go but did not achieve the desired result of President Chen's resignation.

The KMT also retained control of the legislature in the Legislative Yuan elections in January 2008. In the presidential election in May 2008, KMT candidate Ma Ying-jeou ran on a platform supporting friendlier relations with mainland China and economic reforms and defeated DPP candidate Frank Hsieh with 58.48% of the vote.

Ma was re-elected, and the KMT retained its majority in the Legislative Yuan, in combined elections in January 2012. In the 2016 elections, the DPP regained power with Tsai Ing-wen becoming president.

On 24 May 2017, the Constitutional Court ruled that same-sex couples have a right to marry, and gave the Legislature Yuan two years to adequately amend Taiwanese marriage laws. According to the court ruling, if amendments are not passed within two years, same-sex marriages will automatically become legal.[3] In effect, Taiwan (ROC) would become the first country in Asia and the first non-UN sovereign state to allow same-sex marriage.

The beginning of Japanese soft power in Taiwan started from their colonization from 1895 to 1945. But by the end of Japanese occupation, almost all Taiwanese were absorbing everything culturally Japanese, from sports to education.[4] However, after the end of WWII and the rise of KMT rule in Taiwan, the new Nationalist government put heavy bans of everything culturally Japanese in an attempt to re-Sinicize Taiwan. Due to its attempt to normalize Sino-Japanese relations, Japan took a figurative "step back" from Taiwan-Japanese relations and cut ties with Taipei until the 1980s when Japan's soft power began to expand towards its regional neighbors.

Under the Lee Teng-hui administration in the late 1980s, the ban on Japanese language media programs were lifted and Japanese culture flooded into Taiwan whose citizens quickly became fervent consumers of the latest Japanese television programs as well as trends and fashions which were capable of deeply influencing the youth of Taiwan.[5] In answer to a poll taken in Taiwan in 2009, when asked to name their favorite country, twice, over fifty percent chose Japan, and four times the result was in the low forty percent range, which means that Japan was more popular than every other country in the world combined.[6]

From 1990 to 2010 Japanese popular culture has been successful in creating a loyal following among Taiwan's younger generation, many of whom proudly refer to themselves as “harizu” (Japan mania/Japanophile).[5] These harizu, who generally range from twenty to thirty, regard Japan as their cultural holy land, and consider it the only place they need to find inspiration for fashion, music, movies, TV, dramas, video games, cuisines, sports and even words.[7] Some accounts say the Japanese culture boom really only kicked off with the publication with a series of manga-style travelogues by a female essayist who had become so enamored with Japan that “she decided to use a pseudo-Japanese pen name, Ha Ri (Japanophile) and Kyoko (an ordinary Japanese female name).”[7] Though it is impossible to estimate the exact number of harizu, they can be seen amongst Taiwanese popular culture. “With an army amounts of harizu and the absence of vocal anti-Japan sentiment in the younger generation (unlike China), the Taiwanese government’s attempt to build new ties with Japan meets with little public resistance.”[7]