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Jiang backs use of
‘Japanese occupation’
TURN OF A PHRASE: The KMT likes the term because
Japan ‘suppressed the people of the ROC.’ Critics note the ROC did not exist
when Japan took control of Taiwan
By Shih Hsiu-chuan and Mo Yan-chih / Staff reporters
Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) yesterday defended the decision to describe the
period between 1895 and 1945, when Taiwan was under the administration of Japan,
as “Japanese occupation” (日據) rather than “Japanese rule” (日治) in government
documents.
That was because Taiwan, during the decades after Japan won the First
Sino-Japanese War in 1895, was under Japanese colonial rule, Jiang said.
His comments came after the Executive Yuan issued a statement at 10pm on Monday,
saying the period would now be referred to as “Japanese occupation” in
correspondence between government agencies at the central and local levels.
“When Japan started to rule Taiwan, Taiwanese never ceased to rebel against
Japanese colonialism during the colonial period. The Republic of China [ROC]
went through the eight-year War of Resistance [against Japan] so the unequal
Treaty of Shimonoseki was repealed and Taiwan returned to the ROC,” Jiang said.
The period “seemed to us of course to be a form of occupation, colonialism,” he
said.
“It was like it was in Korea, where the period in which the country was under
Japanese rule [from 1910 to 1945] is either described as the time of ‘Japanese
forced occupation’ or ‘occupation by Imperial Japan.’ Any country with dignity
should phrase [colonial rule] this way,” Jiang said.
There has been a controversy over which term should be used by the government
since a recent Ministry of Education review of high-school history textbooks
found both terms were used.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said last week that while he preferred the term
“Japanese occupation,” a democratic society meant that others should be free to
use the term “Japanese rule.”
In its statement, the Executive Yuan said it had the right and obligation to
standardize the way to describe the period “to maintain the ROC’s sovereignty
and dignity of the people.”
It said it would notify all agencies that they must follow the policy. However,
high-school textbooks would not have to follow the policy out of respect for
publishers’ interpretations of history, it said.
Jiang said that after thorough discussions with the Ministry of Education, the
period could either be termed as “Japanese rule” or “Japanese occupation” to
protect academic freedom.
The announcement of the policy came one day after the Executive Yuan was urged
by pro-independence civic groups and Taiwanese historians to keep the phrase
“Japanese rule” in high-school textbooks in accordance with the national
curriculum approved by the previous Democratic Progressive Party administration.
Pan-blue politicians and pro-unification academics have been recommending
revising the curriculum ever since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took office in
2008.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday defended the Executive Yuan’s
decision.
Wang Wen-lung (王文隆), director of the KMT’s party history center, said Japan sent
troops and won the First Sino-Japanese War against China’s Qing Dynasty, after
which it occupied Taiwan.
“The then-Japanese empire suppressed the people of the Republic of China and
took over the authority against our will, and so ‘Japanese occupation’ should be
a proper term to describe the period,” he said.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) also backed the Executive Yuan’s decision and
said the city would use “Japanese occupation” in all official documents.
However, pro-independence groups said the government’s use of “Japanese
occupation” is an attempt to deny Taiwan’s existence by identifying it during
that period as the ROC, which was not founded until 1912, 17 years after
Japanese colonial rule began in Taiwan.
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