History professor Jim Lee said Chiang’s zero-sum mindset led to Taiwan’s diplomatic isolation today
Taiwan News
Date: 2018/08/13
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Ｗhile Beijing is escalating its bullying of Taiwan by excluding the country’s presence in as many international conferences and sports events as it can, a scholar said bluntly on Sunday that former ruler Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) is also responsible for Taiwan’s diplomatic isolation.
There is a perennial debate about the main culprit responsible for Taiwan’s diplomatic isolation inside the country, along with the external forces applied by Communist China. In a workshop that discussed how the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall should be transformed on Sunday, Aug. 12, history professor Jim Lee (李筱峰) said Chiang’s zero-sum mindset has led to Taiwan’s diplomatic isolation today, according to a UDN report.
Lee reminded the audience of the atrocities committed by the Kuomintang leader Chiang during the White Terror era that destroyed the lives of an unknown number of well-educated Taiwanese people, to eliminate internal threats to his dictatorship and to consolidate his rule. “There is no country seeking transitional justice would allow for, or build a memorial hall for a dictator,” said Lee.
Lee is a full-time professor at the National Taipei University of Education’s graduate school of Taiwanese Culture, and has published 40 books since 1978 covering the history and politics of Taiwan. [FULL STORY]
