CHAPTER 1: Introduction
1.64. Contemporary Political Issues
overwhelmingly negative attitude towards Japan in South Korea, while not Taiwan. This will all be investigated through the many details about Japanese administration/education/social policies in colonial Korea and Taiwan. There will in fact be many references and narratives that show similarities, but it will still in the end address the key differences that account for the differences in opinion toward Japan.
1.63. 2/28 and White Terror KMT
While there was lots of bloodshed during both the imperial Japanese and authoritative KMT regimes, Taiwanese generally seem to view the latter as more personally horrific. I believe that because of the sudden Republic of China take over after the Japanese surrendered, the mass killings that ensued on February 28, 1947, and decades of martial law, are all key reasons why Taiwanese may look back to Japanese occupation as slightly better in the face of Chiang Kai-shek.
This section, however, will have to be examined very carefully, as South Korea, much like Taiwan, also faced atrocities after the Japanese left. From the Korean War to the slew of authoritative dictators and decades of martial law they experienced, it could indeed seem illogical to say that Taiwan has been distracted from Japan‘s misdeed through those of the post-Pacific War R.O.C. However, through my data and interviews, I will prove why it is indeed a factor for the Taiwanese people and their present-day views of Japan
1.64. Contemporary Political Issues
For the Koreans, a major political issue is the Dokdo/Takeshima dispute with Japan. Surely, this can be a possible reason for the increased likelihood of Koreans to dislike their neighbor. For Taiwan, we will not look at negative political issues
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fond of the Japanese. Just like we will examine 2/28 and White Terror KMT to see if it counters psychological aggression to the Japanese, we too will look into Cross-Strait Relations and the China Factor. It is likely that Taiwanese choose to look more favorably towards Japan in light of their geopolitical battle for sovereignty from China, as well as the fact that Japan also has her own problems with the rising superpower; Japan and Taiwan have this negative relationship with China in common. Of course, it depends on the political views of every ROC citizens, but because of the higher numbers of anti-unification, general pan-green people in Taiwan, the opinion polls have the results that they do.For the Korea – Japan Dokdo/Takeshima section, it will touch upon the empirical results that I will have found about its level of importance. This section will give in depth history about both Korea and Japan‘s claims, the islands‘
importance in natural resources, and then dig into whether or not it accounts for Korean hatred towards Japan. On the contrary, it may prove that the debate on the islands is itself fueled by an already existing feud. My hypothesis certainly links to the latter. For Cross-Strait Relations/The China Factor, it will explore the entire 65-year rift of Taiwan (ROC) and the People‘s Republic of China. It will lead up to current day conflicts such as annexation/independence, the missiles that still point towards Taiwan, and Taiwan arms purchases for possible defense. This section will include everything it possibly can about the Taiwan – China relationship. It will then connect the surveyors‘ answers regarding their opinions of their neighbor to the West to question and answer if a large reason that Taiwanese may like Japan is due to a convenient coincidence that they both have sour relationships with China.
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2.1. Establishing the difference in Korean/Taiwanese opinions
This literature includes both publications from popular media, as well as sources used will be from in-depth scholarly journals and research textbooks. As the basis for this thesis paper is to acknowledge and then figure out reasons for the difference between Taiwanese and Koreans‘ views towards to Japan, I have possible independent variables for this difference that I will dissect.
The Asahi Shimbun article questions the relation of current political issues to the Korean‘s overwhelming level of descent towards Japan. It initially hints at a spark in the Japanese – Korean rivalry in the last several years because of a larger emphasis on the Dokdo–Takeshima islets dispute. This very geopolitical conflict over resources and territory is a large issue to be investigated throughout my paper.
However, a question that I will dig into is whether the political disputes, namely Dokdo–Takeshima, are what cause the Japanese – Korean conflict, or whether an already standing negative relationship is what so easily catalyzes heated arguments over territories like the tiny islands in question. The Asahi Shimbun article certainly seems to imply that my latter question carries more weight, as he reports that less than 1% of Korean respondents ―told the Genron-EAI opinion
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poll that they formed their opinions on bilateral relations through information obtained through direct conversations with people from the other country.‖
(Hiroshima and Shimizu, 2013).
This points to possible evidence that current geopolitical anger that Koreans feel towards Japan is ultimately fueled by history of the occupation, rather than recent foreign policy. This article, however, leaves an absence of historical detail.
It rather focuses on the relationship of Japan and Korea since the late 2000s, without any mention of how it was decades prior. The main purpose of this article, albeit, is to inform the public of how contemporary Japanese and Koreans feel towards each other. Because of that, the lack of historical information is somewhat warranted. My aim, with respective difference, is to inform the public of such opinions, look at contemporary political issues, but also historical ones. This is why I am also using articles, books, films, and interviews to explore further than the Asahi Shimbun article did.
The ―Odd Couple‖ article bout Taiwanese opinions towards Japan, rather than those of South Koreans, was published by Michael Thim, a research fellow in the Taiwan Studies Program at the China Policy Institute (CPI) of the University of Nottingham, and Misato Matusoka, a Associate Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study (IAS) at the University of Warwick. This research article was based on a very extensive survey by the Interchange Association Japan, or the ―de facto‖ Japanese embassy of Taiwan. The study used a sample of 17, 340 Taiwanese respondents aged from as young as 20, and old as 80. Matusoka mentions that in the Taiwanese respondents aged 20 –29, there is an even higher tendency to favor Japan (54%).
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particularly any Taiwanese still alive that were present during the Japanese occupation. This is something that I did find out in my own research, as I conducted sociological surveys of my own. Additionally, I conducted personal interviews with Taiwanese in their 50s, 60s and 70s. This was to avoid any results of Taiwanese favoritism towards Japan being skewed by younger populations.2.2. The Japanese Occupation of Korea
While the systems and policies that the Japanese used on colonial Taiwan are explained, I will then have to compare it with Korea. As one can see, as thoroughly equipped with information as the previous texts are about Japanese rule in Taiwan, they do not provide nearly enough about its comparison with the occupation of Korea. As mentioned throughout my research paper, there must have been large differences in the colonial periods of Korea and Taiwan to create the vast difference in the countries‘ opinions of Japan that we see today.
Undoubtedly, there was violence, discrimination, and suffering in both of them.
However, they must have been to certain degrees, quite different in some respects.
It is often argued by scholars that Koreans were treated more inferior by Japan then, say, Taiwanese were. Japan did not provide colonial Korea with the same educational and economic care that they did in Formosa. One thing that I have to do to prove such differences existed, is to dig into the brutal historical accounts of what many Koreans faced under Japanese rule, to then see if Taiwanese suffered at the same level. One of many academic works that I will use to trace the horrific history that Koreans faced under Japanese rule, which is a key motivating factor in 3/4 of their country sharing a ―disliking‖ towards Japan, are tales and numbers of comfort women, genocide, marriage prevention, and
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Umbrella: Voices from Colonial Korea, 1910 – 1945.‖ (Hildi, 2005)I have traced the depths of this extremely sensitive issue by examining a sociological scholarly journal article by Pyong Gap Min. Titled ―Korean Comfort Women: The Intersection of Colonial Power, Gender, and Class‖, it delves in the details of not only the grossly large numbers of sexual slaves, but also the psychological effects that took place on the victims and their society. This article is crucial for understanding the background of a hot contemporary issue that drives much of the anti-Japan sentiment throughout South Korea.
Unfortunately, the issue of comfort women is something that is going to have to be discussed a lot in this research paper. It is not only of grave importance to recognize the pain and suffering of so many forced, trafficked women (Min, 2003), but, as I will argue, a main reason for the soured relationship of Japan and Korea 70 years later (Toosi, 2015). It was just this past summer, after all, that an 80-year old Korean man set himself on fire at a Seoul rally for justice in the name of comfort women (NA, 2015). The heartbreak of Japanese colonial history in Korea is extremely poignant to the present public opinions that ROK citizens have toward Japan, as well as the underlying arguments to this research paper.
2.3. The Japanese Occupation of Taiwan
One of the most important lessons to be learned during this research paper is that both Korea and Taiwan experienced decades of bloodshed under Japanese rule. It is for this reason that I was so curious in the first place why one former colony despises Japan, and the other enjoys her proximity. To get a very thorough view of Japanese rule over Taiwan, I will be using the book put together by Liao Ping-hui and David Wang.
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Titled ―Taiwan Under Japanese Colonial Rule, 1895 – 1945: History, Culture, Memory.‖ It examines the hardships that Taiwanese, like Koreans, faced under Japanese rule. On the contrary, it uncovers some more positive factors of the colonial rule; these are positive factors that I may or may not be able to find during the Japanese rule of Korea. Nonetheless, the negatives that took place because of Imperial Japan are more than studied as well.
What makes this literature different, though, is that it covers all aspects of the Japanese process. While it delves into the effects of agricultural expertise, like Ka does, it also highlights the specifics such as land surveys and the census. In addition to land management under the Japanese, this book takes a deep look into the realm of education. This is an invaluable topic, as, much like agricultural and economy, it is almost always brought up as a discussion point to why many Taiwanese might feel favorable to the period of Japanese rule. When discussing key alleged benefits of Japanese colonial days, it is extremely important to use historical and contemporary findings of educational improvements that Taiwan can thank Japan for.
The economic and educational changes brought under colonialism are not researched in these articles without an emphasis on the inequalities of the Taiwanese, Japanese, lower class and elites. While it is often argued that Japanese gave the Taiwanese much more opportunity and freedom than they did in say, Korea, many authors of the articles in ―Taiwan Under Japanese Colonial Rule‖ are very careful to also include the realities of segregation and limitations to certain groups of native Taiwanese when it came to employment or education. Such disadvantages still faced by the Taiwanese may seem to impede my argument that benefits gained under Japanese rule may contribute to a more positive Taiwanese opinion to it, but it is more useful to me while trying to reveal the real reason the
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sentiment exists. If anything, such findings help eliminate any exaggerated or false connections between the history of Japanese rule and contemporary Taiwanese public opinion towards the country. As will be mentioned in my methodology section, it is important to note that I am further confirming such feeling that Taiwanese have towards the advantages or disadvantages of Japanese rule through my own self-conducted surveys.
Additionally important is this book‘s scholarly research on the ethnic and national identity cleavage that was formed after the Japanese had to leave. While this particular topic would fit better into this literature reviews next category of 2/28 and White Terror KMT, it does an excellent job to set the tone of what came after from the Chinese, and how it may very well have lead many Taiwanese to think less about any violence or inequalities inflicted on them by the Japanese. At this point, of course, the question as to why Taiwanese favor Japanese is if anything stronger than any explanation. Because of that, this text alone is not sufficient, to say the least.
To continue to look for answers through the exploration of Japanese occupation in Taiwan and how it compares with Korea, I will be heavily referencing the book titled ―Japanese Colonialism in Taiwan: Land Tenure, Development, and Dependency, 1895 – 1945.‖ This book surely covers aggressive measures taken by the Imperial Japanese, but focuses more instead on the positives that they contributed to Taiwan at that time and, as many argue, that still exist in contemporary Taiwanese economy and society.
Written by Chi-ming Ka, a research fellowship at Academia Sinica in Taipei, the text researches and confirms such positives of Japanese colonialism on Taiwan.
He also emphasizes how Taiwan was not a typical colony, not just in comparison to Korea, but to others all over the world.
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A key reason, as Ka explains, that Taiwan was an exception in the history of countries victimized by colonization is because of how much she thrived under Japan in sugar production. Because the island reached such great agricultural and economic heights in sugar, there is much progress to be attributed to the period of Japanese colonization, despite how ugly some social factors may have been.
The main goal of Ka is to explore, uncover, and invigorate the feelings of agricultural and economic achievement that Taiwan gained during the fifty-year period of colonization. Such a reality, with empirical data to not only confirm how the island thrived during Japanese rule, but also decades later in capitalism, and even into its fresh years of democracy, surely help point to my dissertation‘s emphasis on the fact that Korea and Taiwan had very different periods of Japanese rule, which may affect the difference in opinion toward the country. What Ka does not do, contrary to the goal of my thesis paper, is further contrast Taiwan‘s agricultural benefits of the colonial era to those of Korea. Because Ka‘s text lacks such an angle, it still makes it impossible to see why Koreans tend to hate Japan.
What Ka‘s text does show is why it is plausible that so many Taiwanese favor Japan‘s colonial history, but it can say nothing to the reader about why Koreans usually do the opposite.
Equally confusing as the contrasting views of South Korean and Taiwanese opinions is the fact that comfort women are not mentioned nearly as much in the majority of literature about Japanese colonization of Taiwan. Such a vacancy of information is astonishing, as it is extremely important when researching a topic such as mine. It is for this reason that I have included the very recent publication from The Diplomat article titled ―China, Taiwan Apply Pressure to Japan Over
‗Comfort Women‘ Issue‖.
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2016) While it is roughly 10% the size of the estimated Korean comfort women population, it is a key reminder of a horrible part of history that is seemingly contradictory to a large percentage of ROC citizens‘ opinions toward Japan.2.4. The Korean War and Martial Law
Since I am spending a significant portion of this thesis paper harping on the cruelty and oppression of the Taiwanese period of martial law and how it may affect the topic at hand, I also have to recognize the fact that South Korea faced a very similar situation at pretty much the same exact time. The ROK faced her fair share of ―tanks and soldiers guard[ing] the entrances to most government buildings and many universities and newspaper offices.‖ (Tharp, 1981)
A very challenging question of this thesis topic regard the fact that through such political unrest as military coups and the assassination of a president, the evils of Korean domestic governance still did not outweigh any hatred towards Japan like it did in Taiwan. A large part of this difference might have to do with the fact that Park Chung-hee, the dictator of South Korea for nearly two decades until his assassination, is still regarded by many Koreans as having been a positive leader. (Yi, 2013) His reign over the ROK is arguably the longest and most harsh period of Korean martial law, yet the overall opinion of him is still up for debate.
Nonetheless, Chun Doo-hwan continued a very similar trend of authoritarianism and violence when he replaced the late Park. He wasted barely any time at all quashing his people with an iron fist like Park, and the ROC‘s very own Chiang Kai-shek; he instilled martial law in the spring of 1980. When student protests swarmed the peninsula in response, hundreds were slain by the troops that
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Chun sent in. (Breen, 2011) Known as the Kwangju Massacre, others argue that as many as 2,000 were murdered by South Korean troops. (Gonzalez, 2005) Once again, it becomes hard to believe that Koreans of today do not view this period of authoritarianism as badly as Taiwanese view their own. Where the dictators were from may prove to be the reason for such stark differences.
For instance, unlike Chiang Kai Shek or his son Ching Kuo, both Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo Hwan were from the country over which they reigned.
The fact that the Kuomintang and White Terror policies came from Mainland China to Taiwan may be the reason why Taiwanese express more ill will towards their martial law period than Koreans. The 2/28 Incident of 1947 was and is viewed by many Taiwanese not just as a massacre, but one committed through a foreign invasion. (Chen, 2015) This could be parallel, say, to how Koreans view the Japanese occupation.
2.5. Post-war Taiwan and Martial Law
As I turn to another section of theories, I will focus on the push for the possibility of KMT and White Terror overshadowing a Taiwanese hatred for Imperial Japan. This is a very fair angle to take to explain why Taiwanese, whether having been alive during Japan‘s colonial era, or being part of the new generation, do not resent the Japanese. It can be very possible that there is a
As I turn to another section of theories, I will focus on the push for the possibility of KMT and White Terror overshadowing a Taiwanese hatred for Imperial Japan. This is a very fair angle to take to explain why Taiwanese, whether having been alive during Japan‘s colonial era, or being part of the new generation, do not resent the Japanese. It can be very possible that there is a