Taipei Times - archives

Taipei Times - archives
This has happened before in Taiwan’s history. Before the Japanese army occupied Taipei in 1895 there was a short-lived Republic of Formosa, but everyone involved, from the republic’s president Tang Ching-sung (唐景崧) down to its common soldiers, saw themselves as abandoned subjects of the Qing empire. Until the end of World War II, Taiwanese were busy learning to be Japanese. Taiwan-centric consciousness burgeoned during the terms of former presidents Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).