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WWII recovery of Taiwan celebrated across Straits
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-10-25 20:32
China on Tuesday marked the 60th anniversary of its taking back Taiwan from a
half century of Japanese colonial rule, with people on both sides of the Taiwan
Straits hailing the historic event as a glory of the Chinese nation.
Marking the day, senior Chinese leader Jia Qinglin delivered a keynote speech
at a grand public gathering in Beijing, while Ma Ying-jeou, chairman of the
Chinese Kuomintang Party (KMT) in Taiwan, published an article on China Times
newspaper. Both paid a high tribute to the heroes on both sides of the Straits
who had "fought side by side against Japanese aggression."
"The struggles of Taiwan compatriots against Japanese aggressors were an
important part of the patriotic struggle of the Chinese nation against
imperialism," Jia, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's
Political Consultative Conference, China's top advisory body, said at the
gathering held in the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing.
Paying homage to the 650,000 Taiwan compatriots who sacrificed their lives in
the fight against the Japanese, Jia said "their sacrifices testified to their
Chinese identity" and called them "inalienable members of the Chinese nation."
In his article, Ma, the KMT chairman, noted that though Taiwan and the
mainland were separated under the Japanese colonial rule, the "link of life"
between the two sides of the Straits had never been cut off, and people on both
sides had always supported each other to fight Japan's imperialism and
colonialism.
Celebration activities for the Taiwan restoration anniversary actually began
on both sides of the Straits as early as the last weekends. Seminars,
exhibitions and forums were held in Beijing on Sunday and Monday to mark the
occasion, while China Central Television presented a TV documentary featuring
Taiwan people's resistance against Japanese occupation.
In Taipei, a firework show was staged on Saturday evening, attracting more
than 100,000 spectators, while a cartoon exhibition featuring life in Taiwan
under and after the Japanese colonial rule was to be held in a local library
from Oct. 25 to Nov. 10.
China was forced to cede Taiwan, a piece of Chinese territory since ancient
times, to Japan when it lost the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. The island
province returned to China in 1945 following Japan's unconditional surrender in
the World War II, and a formal restoration ceremony was held on Oct. 25 that
year for the then KMT regime to accept the surrender of the Japanese forces in
Taiwan.
But Taiwan was separated from the mainland again in 1949 when the KMT lost
the civil war to the communists and fled to the island. With the secessionist
Democratic Progressive Party coming to power in Taiwan and taking a series of
provocative steps to seek "Taiwan independence," tensions have been growing
across the Straits in recent years.
"Six decades ago, Taiwan already returned to China both in a legal sense and
in a de facto sense," Jia stressed on Tuesday. "The legal status of Taiwan as an
inalienable part of Chinese territory is not to be doubted or challenged."
Calling the "Taiwan independence" secessionist activities "the greatest
menace and obstacle to a peaceful and steady development of cross-Straits
relations" at present, Jia urged people on both sides of the Straits to "work
hand in hand" and "strive hard for the peaceful reunification of the motherland
and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation."
Parking not far from the Great Hall of the People, a Beijing taxi driver told
Xinhua in a random interview that he often feels indignant with the secessionist
activities and words of Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian.
"Though I didn't know Oct. 25 is the Taiwan recovery anniversary until today,
I think it is really necessary to celebrate the day. It can help improve
understandings across the Straits and make people on both sides feel closer to
each other," said the driver, who claimed to have a relative living in Taiwan.
Political analysts here say the common celebration of the anniversary across
the Straits indicates growing national cohesion among people on both sides of
the Straits, as well as the people's common aspiration to check "Taiwan
independence" adventures and safeguard cross-Straits peace and stability.
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