The History Of The Coflict Between China and Taiwan (Analysis Impact Of Conflict In International Relation)
The history and escalation of the China-Taiwan conflict is a conflict that cannot be separated from the past situation. China experienced political turmoil after the Qing Dynasty that led China and experienced its fall in 1911. There are two political-military groups with opposing ideologies, competing with each other for China's future.
The two are the Kuomintang Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The KMT projects China as a constitutional republic following the western model of government, while the CCP, which was formed in 1921, seeks a communist revolution (Muhamad, 2009).
In ancient times, the island of Taiwan was indeed one with mainland China. However, due to the movement of the earth, the connecting part descended and turned into a strait, so Taiwan was formed into an island. This small island east of the island of Hainan is better known as Chinese Taipei. The term China Taipei itself is actually used to describe more clearly the position of Taiwan itself.
There are differences between China and the US in understanding the Taiwan issue. Both have a different point of view. Since the beginning, China has always viewed Taiwan as an integral part of its territory that cannot be separated from the mainland.
However, Taiwan's historical experience is different from that of Mainland China, making Taiwan as unmanageable as the mainland. so that the Chinese government implements a one country two system policy. Meanwhile, the US has never considered Taiwan to be part of China. To the US, Taiwan is not China; Taiwan is a country whose political economy and socio-cultural system cannot be equated with China (Mubah, 2014).
Japan's success in seizing Taiwan through the Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895) until 1945, was used as a military base to send troops to Southeast Asia. Japan's 50 years of repressive actions that uprooted people's culture have changed Taiwan's view of China. Therefore, in 1945, when Japan lost World War II and was forced to hand Taiwan back to China, not all Taiwanese people supported the Nationalist government that was in power in Mainland China. Even though they had been united for four years, the Communist Revolution caused disintegration to happen again (Nugroho, 2022).
Taiwan's position changed again when there was a civil war in mainland China between the Kuomintang Nationalist Party and the Communist Party. The war, which ended in 1949, was won by the communists, which then displaced the Kuomintang and fled to Taiwan. In Taiwan, the Kuomintang led by Chiang Kai-shek later established a government that remained named the Republic of China. Chiang Kai-shek founded this government with the aim of maintaining a nationalist philosophy, and trying to build up the power to eventually reclaim mainland China.
After Japan surrendered to the Allies in 1945, Taiwan returned to China's arms. However, the two parties resumed civil war. The US as a supporter of the KMT tried to mediate the conflict between the two parties in 1945. Unfortunately, both of them continued to carry out a ceasefire.
The war continued until the leader of the CCP, Mao Zedong, announced the formation of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Beijing on October 1, 1949. The formation of the PRC as a form of the CCP's victory led the KMT leader, Chiang Kai-Shek, to retreat to Taiwan (KOMPAS, nd).
The KMT under the leadership of Chiang Kai-Shek then declared Taipei on the island of Taiwan as the capital of the Republic of China (ROC) in December 1949. This declaration was also an effort to cut off contact with mainland China controlled by the CCP.