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Localization groups rebut ¡¥KMT
liberation myth¡¦
By Lee Hsin-fang, Rich Chang and Jake Chung / Staff reporters,
with staff writer
Members of the Northern Taiwan
Society re-enact the Japanese surrender in 1945 at the plaza in front of
Zhongshan Hall in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Pro-localization groups and academics in
Taipei yesterday staged a re-enactment of Japan¡¦s surrender in 1945 with the
raising of a ¡§Taiwan flag¡¨ to rebut the Chinese Nationalist Party¡¦s (KMT)
long-held claims that it ¡§liberated¡¨ Taiwan on Retrocession Day on Oct. 25,
1945.
According to Academia Sinica Institute of Modern History researcher Chen Yi-shen
(³¯»ö²`), after Japan¡¦s declaration of surrender, then-Japanese governor-general of
Taiwan Rikichi Ando, representing the Japanese government and garrison in
Taiwan, surrendered to the Allied Forces in what is modern-day Zhongshan Hall in
Taipei.
Chen said that the Japanese surrender had been made to the Allied forces and not
the Republic of China (ROC), citing the presence of the flags of the US, the UK,
Soviet Union and China at the surrender ceremony as evidence.
The then-KMT government represented the Allied forces in receiving the
instrument of surrender, Chen said, adding that in accordance with the 1951 San
Francisco Peace Treaty, the Japanese Empire surrendered their claims to Taiwan,
the Pescadores and surrounding islands, but had not stated explicitly to whom
they surrendered the sovereignty of the islands.
The event yesterday gathered more than 20 pro-localization groups in front of
Zhongshan Hall, where they made a joint statement that Taiwan does not belong to
¡§the KMT government-in-exile¡¨ and has ¡§nothing to do with China.¡¨
Taiwan belongs to Taiwanese and all those who identify with the land have the
right to establish a new country on the island, the groups said.
The KMT¡¦s ¡§liberation myth¡¨ must be debunked, the group said, adding that the
raising of a ¡§Taiwan flag¡¨ on Oct. 26 marked the true Retrocession Day for
Taiwanese, in the sense that the nation was to be governed by Taiwanese and not
outsiders.
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