The History and Politics of Taiwan's February 28
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The History and Politics of Taiwan’s February 28 Incident, 1947- 2008 by Yen-Kuang Kuo BA, National Taiwan Univeristy, Taiwan, 1991 BA, University of Victoria, 2007 MA, University of Victoria, 2009 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department of History © Yen-Kuang Kuo, 2020 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This dissertation may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Supervisory Committee The History and Politics of Taiwan’s February 28 Incident, 1947- 2008 by Yen-Kuang Kuo BA, National Taiwan Univeristy, Taiwan, 1991 BA, University of Victoria, 2007 MA, University of Victoria, 2009 Supervisory Committee Dr. Zhongping Chen, Supervisor Department of History Dr. Gregory Blue, Departmental Member Department of History Dr. John Price, Departmental Member Department of History Dr. Andrew Marton, Outside Member Department of Pacific and Asian Studies iii Abstract Taiwan’s February 28 Incident happened in 1947 as a set of popular protests against the postwar policies of the Nationalist Party, and it then sparked militant actions and political struggles of Taiwanese but ended with military suppression and political persecution by the Nanjing government. The Nationalist Party first defined the Incident as a rebellion by pro-Japanese forces and communist saboteurs. As the enemy of the Nationalist Party in China’s Civil War (1946-1949), the Chinese Communist Party initially interpreted the Incident as a Taiwanese fight for political autonomy in the party’s wartime propaganda, and then reinterpreted the event as an anti-Nationalist uprising under its own leadership. After the rapprochement of Mao’s China with the United States in the 1970s, both parties successively started economic or political reform and revised their respective policies toward the February 28 Incident. Moreover, the Democratic Progressive Party rose as a pro-independence force in Taiwan in the mid-1980s, and its stress on the Taiwanese pursuit of autonomy in the Incident coincided with the initial interpretation of the Chinese Communist Party. These partisan views and their related policy changes deeply influenced historical research on the Incident. This study re-examines both the history and the historical accuracy of these partisan discourses and the relevant scholarship on the Incident, and further proposes to understand this historic event in the long-term context of Taiwanese resistance and political struggles. Keywords: Taiwan; the February 28 Incident; the Chinese Nationalist Party; the Chinese Communist Party; the Democratic Progressive Party. iv Table of Contents Supervisory Committee ...................................................................................................... ii Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... iv List of Tables ................................................................................................................... viii Romanization ..................................................................................................................... ix Abbreviation ....................................................................................................................... x Acknowledgement ............................................................................................................. xi Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One A History of Taiwanese Resistance and the Repressed Voice of the February 28 Incident in 1947 ................................................................. 22 Taiwan under European Colonialism and the Zheng Regime, 1624-1683 ................... 24 Dutch Colonization and Taiwanese Struggles, 1624-1662 ....................................... 24 Spanish Colonialism and Its Clashes with Indigenous Peoples, 1626-1642 ............ 31 The Zheng Regime in Taiwan and Local Militant Resistance, 1662-1683 .............. 35 Taiwan under the Qing Dynasty and the Japanese Empire, 1683-1945 ...................... 39 The Qing Dynasty’s Control over Taiwan and the Local Reactions, 1683-1895 ..... 39 Japanese Colonial Rule and the Change in Taiwanese Resistance, 1895-1945 ....... 48 Taiwan under Nationalist Rule and the February 28 Incident of 1947 ........................ 54 The Nationalist Takeover and Control of Taiwan up to Early 1947 ......................... 54 Early Reports on the February 28 Incident in Chinese and Western Media ............. 61 Media Coverage of the February 28 Incident under Military Suppression .............. 78 v Chapter Two Partisan Policies and the Politicized History of the February 28 Incident, 1947-1987 .............................................................................................. 92 The KMT-CCP Civil War and Wartime Policies toward the February 28 Incident, 1947-1949 ..................................................................................................................... 94 The Interplay between the KMT-CCP Civil War and the February 28 Incident ...... 94 The KMT Authorities’ Reactions to and Reports of the February 28 Incident ...... 104 The CCP’s Wartime Strategies and Its Statements on the February 28 Incident ... 118 KMT-CCP Confrontation and Construction of the February 28 Incident, 1950-1972 ..................................................................................................................................... 125 The Korean War, the Cold War, and Taiwan-strait Politics ................................... 125 The KMT’s Control over the Historiography on the February 28 Incident ............ 134 The CCP’s Political Reconstruction of the February 28 Incident ........................... 147 Changes in International Relationships and Reinterpretations of the February 28 Incident, 1972-1987 .................................................................................................... 154 The Shanghai Communiqué and Its Impact on Taiwan and Cross-strait Politics ... 154 Challenges to the KMT’s Control over Discourse on the February 28 Incident .... 164 The CCP’s Reinterpretation of the February 28 Incident in the Years 1972-1987 172 Chapter Three Political Changes and the Revised Historiography of the February 28 Incident, 1988-2008 ........................................................................... 185 The KMT’s Reform of Taiwan Politics and Its Policies on the February 28 Incident, 1988-2000 ................................................................................................................... 188 The KMT’s Political Reforms and Its New Policy toward the February 28 Incident ................................................................................................................................. 188 vi The KMT’s Rehabilitation of the February 28 Incident ......................................... 197 Unofficial Research and Publications on the February 28 Incident in Taiwan ...... 210 A New Era of Partisan Politics and Policies toward the February 28 Incident, 2000- 2008............................................................................................................................. 219 The DPP’s Rise and Divergent Partisan Policies toward the February 28 Incident ................................................................................................................................. 219 Revisionist Historiography of the February 28 Incident ......................................... 235 Political Changes in Mainland China and Its New Scholarship on the February 28 Incident ....................................................................................................................... 252 Political Changes in Mainland China and the CCP’s New Taiwan Policies .......... 252 Mainland China’s Revisionist Scholarship on the February 28 Incident ............... 260 Chapter Four Reexamining Political Myths and Historical Facts concerning the February 28 Incident ............................................................................ 267 Disputing the KMT’s Claim about Japanese Colonial Influences on the February 28 Incident ....................................................................................................................... 268 Debate over the Japanese Colonial Legacy in the February 28 Incident ................ 268 Historical Reassessment of Japanese Colonial Impacts on the February 28 Incident ................................................................................................................................. 277 Questioning Claims by the KMT and CCP about Communist Roles in the February 28 Incident ....................................................................................................................... 290 Controversies over Communist Leadership in the February 28 Incident ............... 290 A Re-examination of Communist Roles in the February 28 Incident .................... 299 vii Rethinking the CCP’s and DPP’s Propaganda regarding the Taiwanese Struggle for Self-Government in the February 28 Incident ............................................................ 314 Partisan and Scholarly Views on the Taiwanese