We are told these days that China has designs on Taiwan in their expansion desires and because of that tale we are throwing lots of taxpayer cash at the tiny island.

But what do we know about Taiwan other than it is the ‘other China’?

With that question it opens up for the Old Professor to inject some history….and I thank you.

While several closer islands, such as the Penghu (or the Pescadores as they are now known), were incorporated into the Chinese polity during the period of Ming blue water exploration in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Formosa (or Taiwan as it came to be known) never was.

After shuttering its large scale naval activities in the mid-fifteenth century, the Ming were thereafter largely content to let the rival trading companies of the Portuguese and Dutch quarrel for influence on Formosa, where trade revolved around tea and camphor.

In an odd bit of history repeating itself, the island first became a central focus of a ruling mainland Chinese regime as a result of a civil war that needed concluding: displaced by the invading Manchurian forces (the eventual Qing), in 1661 what remained of the Han, Ming ruling clique retreated to Formosa. It was following their ultimate defeat in 1683 that Formosa started to become ethically and administratively integrated into China (a process completed around a century later).

Despite its import as a trading hub in the centuries thereafter, when the Japanese took possession of Formosa at the end of the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-95), per the terms of the Treaty Shimonoseki (1885), the island’s new rulers found a society, economy, and polity virtually untouched by modernity.

https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/how-taiwan-became-an-issue/

There is a darker history than Washington would like for you to know….

Taiwan is today lauded for its vibrant democracy, open economy, and progressive society. However, behind this shining exterior is a dark and brutal history that is frequently overlooked; or in the case of Washington and its loyal corporate mouthpieces, purposefully ignored.

For before its democratization in the 1990s, Taiwan was a harsh authoritarian police state under the rule of Chiang Kai-shek and his son Chiang Ching-kuo. This period, marked by severe repression and systemic terror, is an essential chapter in Taiwan’s history that Americans should know, particularly given the enduring resentment Washington’s vital support for the regime engendered and the purported reasons for the necessity of the island’s defense.

The roots of Taiwan’s authoritarianism can be traced back to the retreat of Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist government (Kuomintang, or KMT) to Taiwan after losing the Chinese Civil War to the Communists in 1949. The local population had already received more than an inkling of what awaited, the KMT authorities having already in 1947 brutally suppressed a popular protest against KMT corruption, mistreatment, and misrule on the island. Facing a precarious situation and the ever-looming threat of a Communist invasion, once arrived on the island Chiang established a regime that relied heavily on surveillance, repression, and brutality to maintain control.

Central to this regime was the role of Chiang Ching-kuo, Chiang Kai-shek’s son, who was instrumental in the creation and operation of Taiwan’s police state. Having spent formative years in Stalin’s Moscow, Chiang Ching-kuo learned from the Soviet Union’s tactics of surveillance, infiltration, and terror. Upon his return, he applied these methods to serve his father’s regime, becoming a formidable spy chief whose skills ensured the perpetuation of KMT rule in Taiwan.

https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/the-taiwan-problem-you-probably-dont-know/

It might be a good idea to learn a few things since DC is pushing us toward confrontation with mainland China.

Taxpayer money is being used to keep this pot stirred….for it is damn profitable for some.

Just an idea of how much is being passed…..

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense has announced plans to procure an additional 1,985 Stinger missiles from the US amid rising tensions with China.

The ministry told lawmakers in its latest budget report that it is eyeing a fivefold increase in its Stinger stockpile, from 500 missiles to 2,485.

It also plans to purchase 549 launch systems and 549 identification friend-or-foe (IFF) transponders.

To fund the potential procurement, the ministry is reportedly requesting 69 billion New Taiwan dollars ($2.2 billion) — a significant increase over the 13 billion New Taiwan dollars ($405 million) previously sought.

(thedefensepost.com)

After all war is big business.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”