HISTORY OF TAIWAN Post-WWII Japan’s loss is Chiang Kai-shek’s gain

The history of Taiwan cannot be separated from the history of mainland China or the history of Japan. The central government in Beijing was not particularly enthusiastic about claiming Taiwan as a province of China, but Taiwan was thrust upon it by the Ming Dynasty loyalist Koxinga (1624–62). Japan sought sovereignty over Taiwan at the time of the Tokugawa Shogunate, since at least 1592. In 1871 a ship from Okinawa was wrecked on the coast of Taiwan. Paiwan aborigines beheaded all 54 crewmen. Beijing, in reply to Japanese demands for compensation, said the aborigines were not under their control. The…