A fake democracy cannot maintain its false pretences for long. The DPP and KMT are both undemocratic!!!
What LTH built is being pissed on by both parties.
Chiang Ching-kuo was a corrupt, murderous despot.
That he was slightly less corrupt, murderous, and despotic than his father is neither here nor there.
His greatest achievements were anointing the peerless Lee Deng-hui his successor, and dying when he did.
The instability was in the government. Otherwise people were generally happier under Japanese rule despite the (insert here) uprisings.
As for the CCP and CCK; both share very messy histories. For you to state that one guy could be less messier makes one to believe that you could say the same for a comparable party. Its chilling how you could totally under-exaggerate history just to try to brighten your political position.
I think it is a little simplistic and naive to say that most Taiwanese reached middleclass status through simple hard work.
That is one of the factors propelling them to success. But it was the KMT’s entrepreneurial policies that created a suitable environment for them to do business in.
The KMT’s land reform program in the 50’s laid the foundation for Taiwan’s economic success since small farmers and large landowners both benefited from this highly successful program.
One does not reach middleclass status simply through hard work. If that was true, then why did hard-working farmers in the PRC starve by the millions during the Great Leap Forward, a period that coincided with the land reform program in Taiwan?
No doubt the KMT was politically authoritative. Yet the KMT did not interfere in the business decisions made by the Taiwanese. Taiwanese were encouraged to start their own enterprises, and the KMT gave tax incentives to support many of these small enterprises.
Taiwanese are pragmatic. It’s all about $$. And the KMT made many Taiwanese wealthy through the land reform program, which increased the landholding assets of small farmers (who saw the maximum rent reduced to 37.5% of the crop, compared to 50-75% of the crop during the Japanese occupation) and produced wealth for large landowners who later sold their stock shares as they appreciated over time. These large landowners used the proceeds from the sale of these shares and bonds to start their own capitalist ventures.
As Taiwan became more politically stable and economically wealthy, the time became ripe for Chiang Ching-kuo to pave the way for democratization. He abolished media censorship and legalized opposition political parties. When the DPP was created in the Grand Hotel in the late 80’s, many KMT officials wanted Chiang Ching-kuo to arrest the leaders who gathered together at that meeting. But he did not.
Thanks to Chiang Ching-kuo’s benevolence and generosity in his older years, Taiwan now has a DPP. Unfortunately the DPP has become a party only good at sparking ethnic tensions for its own political gain, with a CSB whose views always change depending on what Taiwanese think of him.
CSB is never fixed on one position. His views fluctuate like El Nino depending on public opinion. A very tricky politician and manipulator he is.
I have no idea what your tangent on Japan is about. You can elaborate at anytime with your mastery of TI history… 
When did I make a comparision of CCP and CCK…I believe you made the comparison…but please continue debating yourself…its entertaining.
If your point is that the masses don’t really care about political idealogy of democracy, socialism, or imperialism, and instead do really care about survivial and constant improvement in the standard of living…I might be compelled to agree…but I’m not in the habit of concluding my opponents arguments…so you’re more than welcome to make a point whenever you can get a cohesive argument together.
This type of approach had been pushed on them for many years but they didn’t do it until they were shunted to Taiwan, where they and their friends didn’t own any of the land! Doing it wasn’t rocket science or the sign of an amazing ability to lead Taiwan to economic success.
When ethnic groups come over and insert themselves on top of the existing ones, ethnic tensions are created. Then anyone referring that history is accused of stirring ethnic tensions, lol. Truly a joke.
Just came across this story on the website of course a favorite podcast’s website:
I believe that my husband was killed by the Taiwan government because he was not just another journalist or writer. Many people have compared Henry’s work to that of William Shirer, Theodore White and Louis Fischer. Henry’s work was widely published and read all throughout Asia, in China, Japan, Hong Kong, and in Taiwan, despite repeated government efforts to suppress it.