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Academics, experts reflect on lessons
from Korean War
By Vincent Y. Chao
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Jun 25, 2010, Page 3
“It was a complete distortion of history. It shows China’s
continued willingness to distort history through the media and through
[education]. But some people in Taiwan continue to ignore China’s nature.”— Paul
Lin, political commentator
On June 27, 1950, two days after North Korea invaded the south, US president
Harry Truman dispatched the US Seventh Fleet to the Taiwan Strait to protect
Taiwan and prevent a Chinese invasion.
That move, 60 years ago, not only set the stage for US assistance to Taiwan over
the next two decades but also helped stabilize Taiwan’s economy, allowing it to
quickly develop into one of Asia’s fastest growing.
While Taiwan’s military did not participate in the conflict — despite offers to
do so by dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) — academics and Korean experts said
yesterday in Taipei that it was a defining moment for the country, still under
threat at the time from Chinese aggression.
“Originally the US didn’t want to supply Taiwan or Penghu anymore. But the
Korean War marked a significant change in US policy,” said Chen Yi-shen (陳儀深),
president of the Taiwan Association of University Professors. “The forgotten war
... propped up the Republic of China government-in-exile.”
Following China’s entry into the war in October 1950, the Peoples Liberation
Army reorganized its Taiwan invasion force into the Northeast Frontier Force and
subsequently into the People’s Volunteer Army which was sent into the Korean
peninsula.
“It can be said that the [Korean] conflict was of benefit to Taiwan ... it
protected Taiwan from communization due to an invasion from China,” said Rick
Chu (朱立熙) a Korean expert and founder of the Taiwan-based Korean Studies
Academy.
Six decades later, the Korean War still offers valuable lessons for a burgeoning
cross-strait relationship, said Paul Lin (林保華), a political commentator and
researcher who specializes in Chinese Communist Party (CCP) history.
After the war, Chinese history books wrote that the US and South Korea, which
they said initiated the conflict, lost the war in the face of Chinese
participation and suffered millions of casualties, said Lin who grew up in China
during the period.
“It was a complete distortion of history. It shows China’s continued willingness
to distort history through the media and through [education],” he said. “But
some people in Taiwan continue to ignore China’s nature.”
Saying China has never given up its ambitions to unify Taiwan, by force if
necessary, Lin added that, “China's danger to Taiwan has not changed one bit.”
“They wanted to [unify] Taiwan through the use of weapons before, but now they
want to use the economy … [They want to] trick Taiwan into signing the economic
cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China.”
This has become increasingly apparent through the offshoring of Taiwanese
businesses and industries to China, said William Kao (高為邦), who used to head the
Victims of Investment in China Association, a move that could be accelerated by
the signing of an ECFA.
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