Opposed Hitler by sending his son to receive training at the Kriegsschule in Germany and served in the Wehrmacht and commanded a Panzer unit during the Austrian Anschluss and the invasion of Poland?
All of CKS’ elite forces that CKS threw at the Japanese were German trained, and the guy who gave the Severity Order was one of the guys that trained them:
But I think it’s also possible that during that fifty-year period of Japanese rule, Taiwanese began to be attracted to some aspects of the Japanese way of living and doing things (I hope I can be forgiven for my reposting and self-quoting), and I think it’s understandable that they had trouble adjusting to the new regime:
That was when the KMT still was funded by the Soviets. The KMT was an arm of the Soviets during SYS’ leadership and for a while under CKS. It was CKS who decided to turn on the Soviets in favor of cooperating with the Germans.
Also don’t forget that Hitler and Stalin had a non-agression pact (aka Molotov-Ribbentrop). Technically speaking WW2 began with Russia and Germany on the same side.
LTH was in an anti-air gun unit in while the Americans were dropping bombs. He carried the scorched body of his fallen superior on his shoulder… according to one interview he gave in his retirement. Very few people know LTH was already one tough $&@ before CCK summoned him.
The timeline of LTH joining the IJA was discussed in this thread:
Due the time he supposedly “volunteered” there was very little option for students in Japan to opt out of “volunteering”. There was also no food, so joining the IJA for the defense of the home islands was one of the ways not to starve in Japan, far away from Lee’s true home.
My mother told me that the reason my grandpa was not conscripted was because he was the only child. One of her cousins was conscripted though. I don’t know how accurate my mom’s account can be trusted since she was born after 45 and grew up in the KMT information bubble.
Kind of reminds me of my dad back then (apologies for the repetition): not too keen on joining, but not wanting to be drafted. Unlike LTH, though, my dad was given some choice in the matter by joining, so he wound up in the Seabees on Guam, after combat operations on that island were over.
Back to Lee Teng-hui: Sometimes the right person for the job comes along. That’s what happened with him, and I think it was a lucky break for Taiwan (knock wood).
Ignore Japan, Taiwan was the most developed area in Asia after Philipines. With almost 3x higher gdp per cepita than China and way better infrastructure.
Taipei on old pictures from Japanese time is very decent city and after KMT was run down with Chinese cheap sense for aesthetics
I wonder if they did so because the Chiangs knew their legitimacy to rule hinged upon the state of crisis. If they could remain in the UN using the name Taiwan, then neither the Taiwanese nor the late immigrants who followed the KMT over would be beholden to maintaining the martial law, and the Chiang dictatorships.
I think Chiang’s representatives were so invested in the “We Are China” discourse, and so humiliated by the loss of the security council seat, that they responded like many Chinese would when they have lost face.
Of course geostrategically, it was a terrible decision and a disaster for the people of Taiwan. We’re still dealing with the consequences of CKS’s choice.
Agree however that Beijing would have continued to try all manner of nonsense to muddy the waters and cause humiliation, as that is basically what they do.
There is no doubt it was a horrific geopolitical decision.
However, the Chiangs also created the propaganda that Taiwan was legitimately returned to the ROC immediately after the war, but in Chiang Kai-shek’s January 12, 1949 letter to Chen Cheng, the Governor of Taiwan appointed by CKS, he wrote:
Before a Sino-Japan treaty can be signed, the legal status and sovereignty of Taiwan is merely a trust territory to the ROC. How can we openly claim the island as our last stronghold of our anti-communist efforts, and the base for the revival of our race? Such open statement would only be derided as crazy talk from slightly more knowledgeable people both in and outside of China.
So CKS obviously knew the realities of international politics, but chose to bend things in his propaganda to justify anything he does. That leads me to wonder about if he was really all that delusional about giving up the UN seat, or if the Chiangs did it to consolidate their power.
