Japan's unsettled debt to Taiwan

History does not fade simply because some choose to look away.

Recently, some in Japan have made audacious comments on the Taiwan question as if Tokyo held any legitimate stake in a matter that is entirely China's internal affair. Yet Taiwan was not an issue between China and Japan until the latter's colonial occupation created a legacy of suffering and separation.

That painful chapter began in 1895, when Japan forced China's Qing government to cede Taiwan through the unequal Treaty of Shimonoseki. The invasion and occupation by Japan began a dark period in the island's history--one marked by violence, exploitation, and cultural erasure.

It is crucial to confront honestly the wounds Japan inflicted on Taiwan and its motherland during its colonial rule and the lasting injustices it left behind.

Bloody suppression and massacres

Resistance to Japanese occupation began immediately, and was met with brutal violence. In 1896, Japanese troops carried out a five-day slaughter in Douliu and nearby villages, ravaging over 70 communities and killing tens of thousands in what became known as the Yunlin Massacre. Homes were burned down, and civilians were slaughtered indiscriminately.

Indigenous communities suffered especially severe repression. The Seediq people, who rose up against forced labor and oppression in the 1930 Wushe Rebellion, faced overwhelming military retaliation including aerial bombardment and chemical weapons. The rebellion, later depicted in a 2011 film, "Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale," ended in the near annihilation of participating tribes.

Other massacres--in Taoyuan, Xiaolong, and elsewhere--claimed tens of thousands more lives. Estimates suggest that over 600,000 people in Taiwan perished under Japanese rule as a result of violent suppression, forced labor, and harsh policies.

During WWII, over 300,000 people on the island were conscripted into the Japanese military; nearly 30,000 died overseas. Thousands of women were forced into sexual slavery as so-called "comfort women."

Economic exploitation and resource plunder

Japan systematically restructured Taiwan's economy to serve its expanisionist needs. Through so-called "land surveys," vast tracts were seized from local farmers, many reduced to tenant status. A "hunger export" policy shipped rice and sugar to Japan, often leaving Taiwanese farmers unable to feed their families.

Natural resources were ruthlessly extracted. In Alishan alone, over 300,000 ancient trees were felled. Mining rights were restricted to Japanese nationals, while local workers endured harsh conditions akin to slavery.

Monopolies on salt, tobacco, alcohol, and kerosene funneled profits into colonial coffers. By 1945, Japanese capital dominated banking, electricity, sugar, and other key sectors--not for trade, but for organized extraction.

Cultural suppression and identity erasure

Japan pursued aggressive assimilation policies aimed to erase Taiwan's Chinese cultural roots. Schools were segregated, with better resources reserved for Japanese children. The Chinese language and local dialects were banned, and replaced by Japanese language and ideology. Chinese history and culture were excluded from curricula, replaced by textbooks glorifying the Japanese empire.

The Kominka (Japanization) movement, intensified after 1937, compelled people in Taiwan to adopt Japanese names, worship at Shinto shrines, and abandon traditional customs. Festivals like the Lunar New Year and performances of traditional opera were prohibited. These measures were all aimed to sever Taiwan's intrinsic ties to its Chinese identity.

Distortion of memory and its perils

When Japan surrendered in 1945, ending its 50-year colonial rule, celebrations swept across Taiwan. Historical records describe streets filled with fireworks, lion dances, and jubilant crowds--a clear testament to the relief and yearning for return to the motherland.

Today, however, some in Taiwan appear to harbor a so-called "Japan complex," displaying an unsettling affinity toward the former colonizer--even romanticizing aspects of the occupation.

This phenomenon is sustained by certain "Taiwan independence" political forces that seek to distance Taiwan from its Chinese heritage while currying favor with Tokyo. Some pro-independence hardliners even claim that the "comfort women" experience was a source of pride for women in Taiwan—an utterly shameless assertion.

Since the late 1990s, textbooks promoted by pro-independence groups have been exaggerating the so-called "contributions" of Japanese colonial rule. Some have replaced "Japanese occupation" with euphemisms such as "Japanese administration," softening the historical narrative. Meanwhile, voices in Japan that advocate closer ties with Taiwan often sidestep colonial crimes, further blurring public understanding.

The risk is clear: when history is whitewashed, injustice is buried.

The need for truth and justice

Japan's rule in Taiwan was not a period of benign governance. It was marked by mass killings, economic plunder, forced labor, and cultural suppression. These facts belong not only to history books; they live in Taiwan's collective memory.

The crimes Japan committed against the people in Taiwan will not vanish with time, and cannot simply be written off as matters of the past. They await acknowledgement, repentance, and redress.

Japan must face this history squarely, for history remembers, and historical debts remain until they are soberly settled.

The author is a commentator on international affairs, writing regularly for Xinhua News, Global Times, China Daily, CGTN etc.