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Alex Lo

William Lai Ching-te is not the first, but he has become the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) most open proponent to sell the “Battle of Guningtou” as a great victory for Taiwan, not just for the Kuomintang (KMT), over the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
This is all the more remarkable when his ruling DPP spent the better part of the past decade discrediting and erasing the KMT legacy as one of dictatorship and brutality under Chiang Kai-shek. That’s true to an extent, so maybe Lai should have stuck with the script.
Not this time though.
Instead of celebrating an anniversary of the return by Japan of colonised Taiwan to China under Chiang’s rule after the second world war, he made a big fuss by touring Quemoy – a group of islets that are also called Kinmen – to remember the battle there in 1949.
Back then, KMT troops prevailed over the numerically superior PLA, which underestimated the seasoned and well-disciplined soldiers they were facing.
The battle secured the main island as the last stronghold of Chiang’s KMT, thus marking the beginning of modern Taiwan.
And so, Lai told his audience at Quemoy: “The battle of Guningtou makes us realise that democracy and freedom are not something to be taken for granted. We treasure a democratic and free way of life, and we cannot, and will not, allow any external force to change the future of Taiwan.”
Seriously, can we at least try not to be so historically outlandish? It would have been news to Chiang, his generals and the troops fighting in Quemoy that they were defending freedom and democracy.
It was actually about who would rule China, a question which manifests itself in its contemporary version as “one China”.
That was the question the KMT and the PLA were fighting over at Quemoy, just as the KMT continues today to commit to peaceful reunification with mainland China as a party programme.
Lai’s “democracy and freedom” is just a code for secessionism, and it’s so shameless to exploit the valour of old KMT troops.
The DPP has been “de-sinicising” the island, and the programme was accelerated under Lai’s predecessor Tsai Ing-wen. One favourite accusation that the DPP likes to throw at KMT leaders is that they are pro-China and want to “sinicise” the island. The benefits to Taiwan under Dutch and then Japanese colonial rule were emphasised to the public. Statues of Chiang across the country have been gradually removed, and the names of streets and buildings honouring the generalissimo are being changed.
Some DPP politicians and their supporters have argued a distinct Taiwanese identity is only possible by “de-sinicising” it. That may be difficult as up to 97 per cent of the population are Han Chinese, and only 2.3 per cent are indigenous Taiwanese of Austronesian origins.
Given the incessant ideological warfare and lawfare waged between the two main political parties of Taiwan, what was Lai’s thinking when he shamelessly sang the praises of the battle of Guningtou?
He is not the first to do this but he is by far the most open about it. In recent years, the DPP and friendly media have been trying to sell the battle as a great victory for Taiwan, not just the KMT.
And if that becomes a part of common public discourse on the island, it may easily turn into a symbol of resistance against a mainland invasion. At a time when Taipei, Washington and Brussels have been drumming up the “China threat”, with an invasion soon if not now, such a symbol can be very useful for propaganda.
The problem is, the party that actually fought and won the battle still believes in one China, though their version will be much different from that of Beijing.
In July, former president and KMT leader Ma Ying-jeou said his party continued to support peaceful unification with the mainland, while the DPP opposed unification and claimed they were not Chinese.
“President Lai often proclaims himself as a pragmatic Taiwanese independence worker, but seeking Taiwanese independence is not pragmatic as it can never be achieved,” he told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily.
During a period of good relations with the mainland before and when Ma was in office, Quemoy enjoyed vibrant tourism. Many Quemoy residents hold favourable views of mainland Chinese after years of close trade and tourism ties, a major source of income. Their main source of drinking water is also a pipeline from the mainland.
Now, though, the islets are being increasingly remilitarised.
Early this year, Taipei broke a seven-decade taboo and announced it was proceeding with an offer by Washington to deploy a contingent of US special forces on Quemoy. That’s less than 5km off the mainland’s southeast coast at the closest distance. You wonder how Washington would respond if Beijing deployed Chinese special forces 5km off the shores of continental United States, say, to defend Cuba or Nicaragua.
Perhaps Lai’s visit should remind people of a different Quemoy than its old military glory – one of national reconciliation and mutual economic and business interests with the mainland rather than a looming future with US special forces and weapons.


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Taiwan

Taiwan’s Lai is stealing valour from old Kuomintang heroes

Taiwan’s leader William Lai gestures during the Taiwan National Day celebration in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei, Taiwan, October 10, 2024. Photo: EPA/EFE

Beijing official tells media from both sides of Taiwan Strait to advance reunification

More than 110 media representatives and scholars from both sides of the Taiwan Strait attended an event for media and academic representatives which carried the theme “Cross-Strait Media Integration and Development in the New Landscape”. Photo: AFP

Song Tao, director of Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office, addresses media professionals and academics at the Cross-Strait Media Summit. Photo: Weibo/北京外语广播

Mainland China sanctions academy that urges Taiwanese public to prepare for war

The sanctioned Kuma Academy’s aims align with the Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te’s goal of encouraging greater involvement from the Taiwanese public in the island’s civil defence mechanisms. Photo: EPA

Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te (third from left) views a Stinger multiple missile launcher demonstration during his visit to an army base in the island’s Penghu county in September. Photo: EPA

Opinion

Island leader is grasping at straws when he needs the reflected battle glory of the opposition KMT to poke at Beijing


Island leader is grasping at straws when he needs the reflected battle glory of the opposition KMT to poke at Beijing.


My Take

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Column

My Take | Taiwan’s Lai is stealing valour from old Kuomintang heroes

Island leader is grasping at straws when he needs the reflected battle glory of the opposition KMT to poke at Beijing