Excerpts from Letters to Mom in italics.
CiCi and her devoted "shackee" were seated at a table in the shade of an overhang at a Taiwanese restaurant along one of the busy roads. An old man who resembled the visage of the tall bearded philosopher Confucius fell off his bicycle in front of them. He was sprawled onto the dusty berm with his scattered wares. It was a busy location with several dozen people within about 30 feet or so. Everybody ignored him. Steve instinctively rose to perform the charitable task inculcated by his mother's upbringing and Western values. CiCi's firm grasp on his forearm and stern uttering of the "No!" command caused him to reluctantly sink back down into his chair and watch. Hesitantly, and with effort, the elderly Mandarin slowly began to rise aware of all the icy glares and gathered his belongings that had emptied from the bicycle's basket. CiCi remarked succinctly, "He's mainland." as if that were enough explanation. History is key to understanding many present troubles and avoiding future catastrophes.
The first prehistoric inhabitants were thought to be from the Pacific islands. These aboriginals would eventually be forced into the interior of Taiwan's rugged central mountains. Chinese migrants from Fujian and Guangdong Provinces arrived during the 600s to the 1400s. The Portuguese discovered the beautiful isle in 1590, the Dutch landed in the south in 1624, and the Spanish fortified the north, but were driven out by the Dutch in 1641. Their time to depart came when the Manchu's chased Koxinga, a Ming dynasty general, off the mainland. (History would repeat itself three centuries later when another general would be evicted by the Communists from the mainland.) But in 1683, another flood of Chinese immigrated when the Manchus conquered the island.
Japan won the island and its strategic and economic plums, or perhaps, pineapples would be more correct, after the Sino-Japanese War. The Treaty of Shimonoseki conferred the conquest in 1895. Japan was a harsh ruler. It tried to impose the Japanese language and exploited Taiwan to benefit the home economy. The Taiwanese with whom AG2 Fehr associated were not very fond of the Japanese, even in 1965. The United States, other than dropping bombs on the Japanese held island during World War II, is not yet part of the story. After the war, Taiwan was given back to China via the Potsdam Conference of 1945. The U.S. was rooting for the Gimo, short for Generalissimo (Chiang Kai-shek), and his band of less than merry generals to subdue the Chairman Mao led Communists on the mainland.
Meanwhile, back on Formosa, the natives, thrilled to be freed from 50 years of Japanese rule, hoped for liberation or at least international trusteeship. Apparently, they believed the American wartime calls for national self-determination for subjugated peoples around the world. Instead, the Kuomintang (KMT) or nationalist party led by General Chiang Kai-shek, continued the exploitation of Formosa to aid his fight to defeat the Communists on the mainland. The Chinese voted with their feet joining Chairman Mao to eject Chiang. But prior to the Gimo's forced departure in 1949, the Nationalists, with the Allies blessings, had been left to occupy Formosa. The Gimo and his subordinates saw no good in an independent Taiwan. They wasted no time in brutally consolidating their hold on the province of Taiwan.
On February 28, 1947, the Formosans began public demonstrations for reform against the political corruption and economic repression. An estimated 18,000 to 30,000 people were murdered by the new nationalist warlords in the following weeks. Nationalist troops rounded up and executed people, especially scholars, lawyers, students and local leaders - the educated and opinion makers. "28 February 1947" was the beginning of 40 years of martial law in Free China.
The Taiwan Holocaust was kept as secret as possible, but rumors circulated occasionally about the Gimo's sordid side among the navy contingent. The interested reader should consult Formosa Betrayed by George H. Kerr who worked for the U.S. Consulate in Taipei at the time of the massacres. Houghton Mifflin published his book in 1965. It was not for sale in Taipei at that time even though copyright law was widely and totally ignored. Martial law was not ignored.
Chiang not only brought a government along for its sanctuary of Taiwan, the KMT also brought a shadow government for the central government of the mainland and an exile government for each of the mainland's provinces. This charade was hard to put to rest, but time took its inexorable toll. Both the Communists and the Nationalist KMT had one overriding belief in common - in One China. Formosa was Taiwan and merely a subordinate province of China. Yet, the native Taiwanese majority yearned for freedom and Two Chinas.
One China, two Chinas, schizophrenia galore,
No free elections, no self-determination,
Nary a referendum, endless repression.
Bow down to the generals, same as before.
(An original quatrain by S.S. Fehr)
When the Chicoms (intelligence shorthand for Chinese Communists) planned to invade the Chinats (Chinese Nationalists) on Taiwan in 1950, President Truman ordered the 7th Fleet to patrol the Taiwan Strait. In 1953, President Eisenhower lifted the naval blockade. In 1955, the Chicoms began shelling the Chinat held islands of Quemoy and Matsu that were in sight of the mainland. The U.S. then signed onto a mutual security treaty with the Gimo and promised to defend Taiwan. In 1958, following continuous shelling of Quemoy and Matsu, the Chicoms made more threats to invade. The U.S. clarified its policy that it would not assist the Chinats to return to the mainland, but the U.S. would help defend Taiwan. The "Two Chinas" policy.
However, in support of the Gimo's or Chiang's repeated fantasy about returning to the mainland to free China, Taiwan had become a bastion for espionage, guerrilla raids and surreptitious reconnaissance flights over Chicom-dom. In 1957, a U.S. listening post to collect and process Chicom communications was established and called the Shu Lin Kuo Air Station. The unit later became designated the 6987th RSM. Navy CTs were right there on positions in the operations compound, too. It took another seven or eight years for AG2 Fehr to stumble into the saga.