Forbidden Nation: A History of Taiwan

This is by far the most complete and unbiased account of the history and politics of Taiwan. Johnathan Manthorpe approaches the topic from a wide perspective, showing sound knowledge of Chinese, Japanese and European culture. He contextualises the currents situation with China, and shows there is considerable historic and legal president for Taiwans independence. What also comes through is the resilience and pluck of the Taiwanese people amidst the power games it has been the victim of over so many centuries. A great read, and essential for anyone wishing to gain a deeper, and less biased understanding of Taiwanese would-besovereignty.

One of the best books I've read, incredibly well documented, explained and analysed. Good to get an overview of Taiwan's history from an academical point of view.

A historical book that reads likes a thriller. Manthorpe did a great job. He combined "hard" history with more "soft" stories. This makes the book very readible and interesting.

interesting

Manthorpe is a veteran foreign correspondent – and a great storyteller – making this the most engaging book on Taiwanese history. Drawing on his book (which is chronological), I attempt to summarise 15,000 years of history under 3 themes: Booty, Bloody, and Banditry.Booty.Taiwan, to most invaders, was booty. Portuguese sighted it in 1542, but the first Western settlers were the Dutch (1623-28), and the Spanish (1626-42) who the South-eastern and Northern coasts respectively. Asian conquerors included “Pirate Prince” Zheng Cheng-Gong (of mixed Chinese-Japanese ancestry) who took Taiwan as part of his fight against the new ruling Chinese Qing dynasty; the Qing themselves (1683-1895); Japan (1895-1945); and the defeated Nationalist Chinese government (KMT). Many of these conquerors held a precarious grip – and took what they could while they had it. Many also held it with disdain: “Taiwan is outside the empire and is of no great consequence” said China’s Kangxi emperor when General Shih told him it had been taken. In 1874, China offered temporary guardianship of Taiwan to Britain (who refused), and the Japanese parliament discussed selling it to France. China ceded Taiwan to Japan after a military defeat in Korea.Bloody.Many of the world’s indigenous tribes are stereotyped as headhunting bloodthirsty savages – Taiwan is no exception, and there is more than a grain of truth. They saw-off the first two attempts at Chinese invasion (AD 607 General Chen, and 1291 the Yuan Emperor Kublai Khan (who mistook Taiwan for Okinawa as he was trying to invade Japan). Their ferocity ensured that none of the conquerors (including the Chinese who ruled for 212 years) had effective control of more than half the island. The readiness to massacre shipwrecked sailors brought punitive expeditions from Britain, USA, and Japan – eventually leading to Japan’s colonisation. There has been brutality all round: to try to dislodge Zheng Cheng-Gong, the Qing dynasty implemented a scorched earth policy along the Fujian coast (forced removal of all inhabitants within 15 miles of the coast); the Japanese reciprocated the vigour and brutality which the aborigines subjected them to; and KMT soldiers killed 10,000-30,000 civilians to put down rebellion in 1947.Banditry.Taiwan has lacked a central hereditary authority. Its pre-historic inhabitants were marooned at the end of the last ice age (when sea entered the straits separating China from Japan and Taiwan about 15,000 years ago). Later arrivals (the ancestors of Taiwan’s 14 aboriginal tribes) came from current Malaysia/Indonesia over the following thousands of years. The trickle of Chinese turned into a flood when the Qing dynasty undertook a scorched earth policy (removing all inhabitation within 15 miles of the Fujian coast). Another flood of 2 million mainland refugees came with the defeated KMT army 1945-49. Triads offered a semblance of law and order in these unstable social situations. China’s founding father (Sun Yat Sen) and the KMT leader (Chiang Kai-Shek) both started their careers in triads – and the KMT contracted political assassinations as recently as 1985 to the Bamboo Union Gang. 10 MPs, 20,000 Taiwanese, and the Mayor of TaiZhong attended the gang leader Lee Zhao Xiong’s funeral in 2010. The attempted assassination of President Chen Shui Bian (whose wife is paralysed from an earlier assassination attempt) in 2004 reignited public suspicions of organised crime’s close to politics. Chen’s own imprisonment in 2009 for corruption shows neither political party has an unblemished record.Many readers of this book will want a black-and-white answer of whether Taiwan belongs to China or not. Manthorpe argues that Taiwan was not loved, and barely “owned” by any of its conquerors – and that its inhabitants are perpetually in rebellion (100 rebellions in 212 years of Qing rule). There is much history presented here which will be at odds with the mainlanders ‘s books, and I doubt it will be well received there. But I hope that its central theme gets heard in Beijing – for most of history Taiwan has been a troublesome place for its overseas rulers – Chinese or otherwise.

As far as I could find out, this is the only book dedicated to the history of the island of Taiwan. An excellent read from start to finish, it is fascinating to read how little claim the Beijing Government has on the island and that the international community should hang its head in shame for not giving the island the independent status after the Second World War. No Chinese Government had ever truly ruled Taiwan and even with the coming of Western colonists, the Taiwanese natives were too hostile for anything other than effective control of anything other than the costal areas. I truly recommended that anyone interested in history should read this book.