DPP: Taiwan Nativization and Japanese Colonialism

DPP: Taiwan Nativization and Japanese Colonialism
United Daily News editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China)
A Translation
February 7, 2014

Summary:The DPP cannot find its way out of its self-made Sinophobic maze. It can only invoke Orwellian euphemisms in history texts to blind itself to the ugly realities. It has embarked on this path of self-deception. It is forcing itself to continue down this Japanophile path of no return. In the end, any mention of Taiwan's victimization at the hands of Japanese colonialism must be obliterated. DPP officials forbd themselves to even utter the words "Japanese occupation." They forbid themselves any mention of a "colonial subject mentality." This reveals the pathetic extent of DPP ignorance. Look at East Asia. Look at the many countries that suffered bitterly under Japanese oppression. Now look at the DPP's uncritical Japanophilia. Is this not a bizarre take on world history? 

Full text below:

The senior high school history curriculum recently underwent some minor modifications. The main purpose of the modifications was to correct old texts which prettified Japanese colonialism. Who knew the move would touch off a violent reaction from the DPP? The DPP Central Standing Committee passed a resolution demanding that six counties and municipalities headed by Green Camp officials reject the new curriculum and continue using the old textbooks.

This happens to be an election year. The DPP is seizing upon any issue it can to indulge in obstructionism and to incite political conflict. It is not hard to understand their motivation. But is the DPP doing the right thing by opposing the history curriculum? It is not.

Let us scrutinize the modifications to the senior high school history curriculum. It changed "China" to "Mainland China." This touched a sensitive nerve in the DPP, with its deep rooted Sinophobia. Other significant amendments focused on Japanese aggression against the rest of Asia, including colonial rule in Taiwan. It changed "era of Japanese rule" to the more historically factual "Japanese colonial era." It described Japan's exploitation of the "comfort women" as "coerced." It described Japan's ambition to establish a "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" as "aggression." These words appear in the history texts of every nation in East Asia. It is an objective description of historical fact. So why is the DPP alone determined to prevent the next generation from learning the truth from history texts on Taiwan? 

Was Japan's 50 year rule over Taiwan really not colonialism? Were there really no armed crackdowns across the country? Were Taiwan's precious resources really not "plundered?" Japan abducted women from Taiwan and Korea. It turned them into "comfort women." Were the women really not "coerced?" Are we to really supposed to believe that these women volunteered to be sex slaves? Japan initiated the war. It trampled over Mainland China, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaya, the Philippines, Burma, French Indochina, and even the Dutch East Indies. Were such actions really not "aggression?" Was this really a "peaceful unification" of Greater East Asia? Did these countries willingly surrender their own land?

The DPP has long waved the banner of "nativization," in order to challenge the KMT, which is denounces as a  "foreign regime." This strategy has handed the DPP many successes. As a result it sees intensified "native consciousness" on Taiwan as a positive development. But using "native consciousness" to demonize the KMT and Mainland China, and to pursue Taiwan independence, is an entirely different matter. Wantonly distorting history in order to promote Sinophobia and intentionally prettifying Japanese colonial rule on Taiwan in order to vilify KMT rule, is an entirely different matter. The problem with the DPP is that it confuses subjective whim with objective fact. It distorts objective reality in order to realize its subjective desires. This is classic "ostrich with its head in the sand" behavior.

The DPP's equation of "nativization" with Sinophobia is now second nature. This is bad enough. But now it is conflating Sinophobia with apologism for Japanese colonialism. What sort of voodoo logic is this? Does the DPP even remember its raison d'etre as a "nativist" political party? In order to incite Sinophobia, it is now prettifying Japanese colonialism. It is willfully blindfolding itself, Worse, it is willfully blindfolding the next generation. It is afraid to even utter the word "colonialism." It is afraid to even utter the word "aggression." It is afraid to even utter the word "retrocession." It is afraid to even admit that the "comfort women" were coerced. What happened to the DPP's assertions of Taiwan's "primacy?" What sort of historical foundation is Taiwan's post-colonial experience supposed to be built on? Little wonder the DPP has behaved as it has during the Diaoyutai Islands sovereignty dispute in the East China Sea. It has shrilly condemned both the KMT and the CCP, but it has not uttered a single word of condemnation for Shinzo Abe's territorial expansionist ambitions.

The changes to the senior high school history curriculum eliminate flagrant DPP era prettification of Japanese colonialism. Mostly it fine-tunes the text. It even gives "Japanese rule," which is an absurd euphemism for Japanese occupation, a free pass. Predictably however, the DPP has threatened to wage open warfare on "three major battlefields." These include the Legislative Yuan, the streets, and six counties and muncipalities presided over by Pan Green officials. Su Tseng-chang even boasted that Taiwan has finally emerged from the authoritarian era of "education in the service of politics," and that Taiwan must never be allowed to go back. Ironically, his declaration amounted to a slap in the DPP's face. A dozen or so DPP Central Standing Committee members hand down an arbitrary order from on high. They order these counties and municipalities to adopt this or that textbook. How is this not "education in the service of politics?" How can a self-absorbed and lost DPP compel students to unconditionally obey their edicts?

The crux of the problem is the DPP cannot find its way out of its self-made Sinophobic maze. It can only invoke Orwellian euphemisms in history texts to blind itself to the ugly realities. It has embarked on this path of self-deception. It is forcing itself to continue down this Japanophile path of no return. In the end, any mention of Taiwan's victimization at the hands of Japanese colonialism must be obliterated. DPP officials forbd themselves to even utter the words "Japanese occupation." They forbid themselves any mention of a "colonial subject mentality." This reveals the pathetic extent of DPP ignorance. Look at East Asia. Look at the many countries that suffered bitterly under Japanese oppression. Now look at the DPP's uncritical Japanophilia. Is this not a bizarre take on world history? 

民進黨從「本土化」躍向「擁殖民」？
【聯合報╱社論】
2014.02.07 02:13 am

高中歷史新課綱最近進行微調，主要目的，在修正原教科書中對日本殖民的過度美化。不料，此舉竟引起民進黨的強烈反彈，中常會更決議，要求綠營執政的六縣市集體抵制新課綱，沿用舊教本。

正逢選舉年，民進黨抓到任何可以發揮的題材即發動杯葛，製造政治對立，其動機可以理解。然而，民進黨這回宣示反對歷史課綱，能稱得上理直氣壯嗎？恐怕不然！

觀察這次高中歷史課綱的修改，除了將「中國」改稱「中國大陸」，因而碰觸到民進黨「反中情結」的敏感神經外；其他重大的修正，都集中於日本當年在亞洲的侵略與對台的殖民統治，包括：將「日本統治時期」改為更貼近史實的「日本殖民統治時期」，對日本徵用慰安婦增加了「強迫」二字，對日本建立「大東亞共榮圈」的野心加入「侵略」二字。這些用詞，放在東亞被侵略任何國家的教科書上，都是絕對客觀的描述；那麼，在台灣的教科書上，為何獨獨民進黨要禁止我們的下一代認識歷史真相？

試問：日本在台灣的五十年統治，難道不是「殖民」？難道沒有在各地進行武力鎮壓，並「掠奪」台灣的寶貴資源？日本徵用台、韓慰安婦，如果不是強迫，難道是這些婦女志願前往服務的嗎？日本發動戰爭，鐵蹄踏遍中、韓、台、港、星、馬、菲、緬、法屬印度支那，直抵荷屬東印度；這樣的行動若不是「侵略」，難道是「和平統一」大東亞，或各國甘願獻上自己的土地向它臣服？

民進黨當年揮舞「本土化」的大旗，來挑戰國民黨的「外來政權」，確有其戰略上的成功之處；因此強化了台灣的「本土意識」，亦自有其正面意義。但是，要把「本土意識」當成「反國民黨」、「反中」籌碼，進而達成追求「台獨」的目標，這是一回事；但為了要「反中」而肆意扭曲歷史，甚至要刻意「美化」日本在台灣的殖民，藉以醜化國民黨的治理，這又是另一回事。民進黨的問題，是把自己的主觀意願和外在的客觀事實混為一談，以為扭曲外在現實即可實現主觀意願，這是典型的鴕鳥作風。

再說，民進黨將「本土化」和「反中」畫上等號已成慣技，也就罷了；但因「反中」要進而與「擁日」畫上等號，這又是什麼巫毒邏輯？如此一來，民進黨還找得到自己本土政黨的原初立足點嗎？為了「反中」而「擁日」，是矇住自己的眼睛，更矇住下一代的眼睛；連一句「殖民」都不敢說，連一句「侵略」都不敢說，連「光復」一詞都不許用，連慰安婦「被迫」都不能說；那麼，民進黨宣稱的台灣「主體性」在哪裡？台灣的後殖民反省又要植基於什麼史觀？這也難怪，在東海釣魚台主權之爭時，民進黨除了高聲責難國民黨和中共，對於野心勃勃的安倍卻說不出一句譴責的話。

這次高中歷史課綱的修正，是在去除民進黨執政時代課綱對日本的過度美化，主要是文字上進行微調，連「日據」、「日治」之爭都已放過不提。孰料，民進黨卻揚言要在立法院、街頭和綠執政六縣市開啟「三大戰場」；蘇貞昌更稱，台灣好不容易走出「教育為政治服務」的威權年代，絕不容許台灣再走回頭路。這番說法，恰恰是民進黨自打嘴巴；試想，民進黨區區十幾人的中常會，就可以任意下令，指示某些縣市採用這樣或那樣的教科書，這不正是在強迫「教育為政治服務」嗎？然而，民進黨自己的耽溺和迷失，能夠強迫學生照單全收嗎？

問題的癥結是：民進黨在現實上走不出「反中」的迷宮，只能在歷史教科書上利用文字來自我麻醉；一旦走上這條自欺欺人之路，又逼得自己必須一路倒向「親日」的不歸路，最後，竟連台灣遭到日本「殖民」的歷史都要一起抹殺。這種不許說「日據」、不許談「殖民」的心態，才是民進黨最大的蒙昧與悲哀。放眼整個東亞，所有遭受過日本鐵蹄踐踏的國家，民進黨的媚日史觀真可謂絕無僅有了。