02.28.06
2-28
February 28th is a national holiday in Taiwan to remember the events of 1947. As I mentioned last year, the definitive history of this (for English speakers) is Formosa Betrayed by George Kerr - which is available online. Kerr was an American diplomat in Taiwan who was an eye-witness to it all:
From an upper window we watched Nationalist soldiers in action in the alleys across the way. We saw Formosans bayoneted in the street without provocation. A man was robbed before our eyes - and then cut down and run through. Another ran into the street in pursuit of soldiers dragging a girl away from his house and we saw him, too, cut down.
This sickening spectacle was only the smallest sample of the slaughter then taking place throughout the city, only what could be seen from one window on the upper floor of one rather isolated house. The city was full of troops.
STOP_George said,
February 28, 2006 at 6:17 pm
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Shame on Ma Ying-jeou for not apologizing! And shame on Chiang’s grandson!
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curious bystander said,
February 28, 2006 at 6:58 pm
Here’s a Wikipedia link on Kerr, for those who are interested.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H._Kerr
Willy said,
March 1, 2006 at 2:37 am
Stop_George,
MYJ apologized, numerous times in the past 2 weeks for KMT’s role in the 228 incident, and stated that he will be willing to apologize continuously. I wonder where you are getting your news / facts from.
STOP_George said,
March 1, 2006 at 1:35 pm
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I was referring to the KMT’s 228 ceremony, where he DID NOT apologize.
It seem that he made up for that embarrassment later however (from what I’ve read today). Better late than never, I guess.
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American In Taiwan(The real AIT) said,
July 23, 2006 at 11:22 am
[...] Why is Taiwan worth fighting for?To anyone who looks at a map of the region, the reasons are obvious. Taiwan’s strategic location makes it extremely valuable. The Taiwan Strait is a critical sea lane, and taking Taiwan would allow China to choke off international commercial shipping, especially oil, to Japan and South Korea, should it ever decide to do so. In addition, Taiwan serves as a vital window for US intelligence collection. Taiwan’s National Security Bureau and the US National Security Agency jointly run a Signal Intelligence facility on Yangmingshan Mountain just north of Taipei (see Spook Mountain: How US spies on China, March 6, 2003). Taiwan’s inclusion into China’s military power structure would be unthinkable for Japan. (http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/FD10Ad02.html)Check out this article for a perfectly edifying doomsday scenario about how China would invade Taiwan… For those of you interested in the National Reunification Council debate…here’s a few factsThe budget of the NUC previous to its freeze: ($1000 NT…approximately $30 US dollars)…That amount wouldn’t even cover the paper needed to print the long, unwieldy, and irrelevant National Unification Guidelines….Times that the NUC has met since 2000: 0NUC…not worth enough to wipe your ass with.PS: On another note, today Taiwan “celebrated” 2-28, Taiwan’s rough equivalent of Tiannamen Square where over 30,000 political dissidents were slaughtered stemming from an incident regarding the beating of an illegal vendor. The difference between Taiwan and China is that Taiwan has since become democratic. For more check out (http://jujuflop.yule.org/2006/02/28/2-28) [...]