After Japan's surrender to the Allies in August, 1945, the Chinese government sent military and government officials to Taiwan. On October 10 the Taiwanese celebrated their first Double Ten (tenth month, tenth day) national holiday, and Taiwan became a province of the Republic of China.
Eight years of war against the Japanese left much of Taiwan, like the rest of China, in ruins. The people needed to recover, and the government needed to rebuild cities, industry, agriculture, education, and every aspect of life. Chiang Kai-shek held a conference on reconstruction in Chungching, to which he invited all the political parties' leaders. These included the Communist Party's Mao Zedong.
The Chungching conference decided that China would follow Sun Yat-Sen's three principles: democracy, nationalism, and national livelihood. Moreover, it decided that China's government was to be democratic. To that end, it was to hold a political conference immediately, and the government was to call a national assembly to approve a constitution.
The conference also decided that the national military should be reorganized so it belonged to the nation as whole, rather than to parties. When the government tried to carry out these decisions, the CCP refused to cooperate. It kept its own army.
Meanwhile, in January, 1946, the government held its promised political conference, to which it and each political party sent representatives. The conference scheduled a national assembly for May, but when the CCP rejected this date, the meeting was postponed until November. All parties except the CCP attended the assembly, which approved a new constitution. For the first time in its long history, China was governed under constitutional law. The assembly elected Chiang Kai-shek president and Lee Tsung-Jen vice president.
The CCP responded to these developments by launching a civil war. As the situation deteriorated, the United States sent General George C. Marshall to mediate. Marshall made great efforts before giving up and returning to the United States in January, 1947. Because most Americans blamed the Kuomintang for not compromising, the United States cut off aid to the new government of China. The Soviet Union sent aid to the CCP, so it had more resources for fighting the civil war.
Vice President Lee thought that if the government compromised with the CCP, the government would again receive U. S. aid. He publicly called for negotiations with the CCP and demanded that Chiang Kai-shek step down. In January, 1949, Chiang Kai-shek turned the government over to Lee, who immediately sent delegations to negotiate with the CCP. However, the CCP responded by telling the government to surrender. Instead of responding to this ultimatum, Lee went to Hong Kong and then the United States, leaving the Chinese government without a leader.
In April, 1949, the CCP army moved from northern China, crossed the great Yangtze River, and took over most of China. The republican government shifted its base to Taipei on Taiwan. In July the CCP leaders declared they would favor the Soviet Union and not the United States. On October 1 the CCP established a new government, the People's Republic of China (PRC), in Beijing.
Chiang Kai-shek inspecting Nationalist Chinese troops in 1952. (National Archives)
Under the CCP, China adopted a new national flag and national anthem. The Soviet Union immediately established diplomatic relations with the new government. From that moment, China technically has had two governments: the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan and the People's Republic of China in Beijing.
On October 25,1949, the People's Republic of China attacked the Quemoy Islands, strategic outposts off China's coast, across from Taiwan. However, the Taiwanese government held off the invasion.
When the Korean War started in 1950, the CCP army soon went to assist North Korea against South Korea and United Nations forces. For several years the Korean War kept the Chinese army occupied. However, in August, 1958, China again sent a large force against Quemoy. After two months of hard fighting, the Taiwanese army again succeeded in defending the islands. Afterward, the PRC army shelled Quemoy several times a week; however, these attacks were largely symbolic.
World History
