221 – Greater China – Made in Taiwan

  The Chinese nationalist party Kuomintang that was defeated when Mao Zedong’s communists triumphantly took control of China in 1949, retreated to Taiwan, a small island off the coast of mainland China, roughly halfway between Hong Kong and Shanghai. Almost 60 years later, the Taiwanese government still maintains it is the rightful government for all of China, and the official name of the state is not Taiwan, but Republic of China (RoC). 

 

Over the years, this has become an increasingly hollow fiction, with most UN members having switched recognition to the mainland government, the People’s Republic of China (PRC). This leaves Taiwan – not even a member of the United Nations - in a sort of existential limbo. Concurrently, the animus for declaring independence is growing in Taiwan – a move strongly discouraged by the communist government in Beijing, who are also keen to maintain the fiction of territorial unity between the island and the mainland… with of course their government the rightful one, also on Taiwan. 

 

The length and breadth of that fiction can’t be illustrated any better than by this map, detailing the territorial claims of the RoC on the mainland. These revanchist claims are truly spectacular: not only do they include all the area presently under the control of the communist regime, but also many outlying areas controlled by China’s neighbours. The uproar over these claims would be much greater if Taiwan were in a position to actually (re)take these areas:

• The whole of Mongolia, now an independent republic;
• The Russian autonomous republic of Tannu-Tuva, called tannu Uriankhai by the RoC;
• A large part of Tajikistan, namely most of its autonomous province of Gorno-Badakhshan;
• A tiny sliver of Afghanistan’s Pamir corridor;
• Small areas of northern Pakistan and areas claimed by India;
• The eastern part of the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan;
• Parts of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh;
• Parts of northern Myanmar (Birma);
• And a small piece of Russian-administered territory on China’s northeastern border.

In all, the RoC claims territory from no less than ten countries, including of course all the territory of its nemesis, the PRC. The sovereignty fiction is completed by labelling the area under Taipei’s control (Taiwan, but also some smaller islands – some quite close to the mainland) the ‘free area of the Republic of China’, Taipei its ‘Provisional capital’ and Nanking (on the mainland) its ‘Official capital’. 

 

Special mention should be made of the Diaoyu islands (Senkaku islands in Japanese), which are claimed both by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and by the Republic of China (RoC) but are in fact administered by Japan, proving the old dictum that when two dogs fight over a bone, it’s often the third dog that runs off with it.

 

This map, to  be found here on wikipedia, was sent in by John Halton, who comments: “From what I understand, the RoC can’t actually drop these claims, however unrealistic they may now be. To do so would be interpreted by the PRC as tantamount to a declaration of independence, which the PRC would regard as an act of war.”

220 – Russo-Japanese War Cartoons

This is interesting: these cartoons obviously are about the Russo-Japanese War of 1905. But since I’m offline while writing this, I can’t find out much more of the context. So let’s see what I can extrapolate.

First, the facts – as far as I know them. The by now rather obscure Russo-Japanese War of 1905 was a relatively minor, mainly naval conflict that nevertheless echoed around the world: it was the first time in modern history that a non-European nation defeated a European one.

Over the centuries, Russia had expanded from its heartland to the west of the Urals into Siberia, eventually reaching the Pacific shores of the Far East. At the turn of the 20th century, these sparsely populated parts to the north of China and Japan were also outside the orbit of these two empires, the former ancient but impotent, the latter only just emerging from centuries of self-imposed isolation.

What exactly caused the war I don’t remember, but it centred on Russia’s possession of Port Arthur, a coastal city somewhere in the vicinity of the Korean peninsula. Japan, swiftly modernising by copying various bits of European civilisation – up to the Prussian cut of its school uniforms – disputed Russia’s push into its backyard and used its brand spanking new European-style navy to inflict a defeat on the Russians.

This shock was felt first and foremost in Russia itself, where the defeat at the hands of the Japanese contributed to the failed revolution of 1905, a dress rehearsal for the communist takeover of 1917. These cartoons, obviously mocking the Russian defeat, were not made in Russia itself – understandably, as the Czars were wont to send people too critical of their rule on a one-way trip to Siberia.

• The first cartoon is in French, and was tirée à 30 exemplaires (which is an extremely small figure for what should be a mass medium, one would think). It shows a bearded, booted Russian (a cossack, but possibly the Czar himself) lying on the ground asleep and overrun, Gulliver-like, by tiny soldiers marching up the Korean peninsula – Korea was a Japanese colony at the time, I think. The presumably Japanese war ships in the Sea of Japan (Mer du Japon) seem to underline the naval aspect of the Japanese victory. Two paper boats with a sailor each might symbolise European powers observing the Japanese victory. An English soldier on the left, probably at or near Hong Kong and another colonial standing behind a (the?) Chinese wall do the same.
• The Gulliver-theme is repeated in the second cartoon, also French. I’m not sure what le petit poucet means. Port Arthur is mentioned by name. A group of tiny solders watch as one of their number attempts to de-boot the sleeping Russian. The implication is that Russia’s defeat is due to its unpreparedness.
• The third cartoon shows a small pond in which a Japanese ship sinks a Russian one. The large, looming Russian is unable to hide his displeasure, while the smaller Japanese can’t hide his glee. Oh, what a surprise, reads the caption. No Gulliver theme here, but the Japanese figure is again a lot smaller than the European one.

Is this an indication of racism? One could think that by portraying ‘orientals’ as small and in large groups, this indicates that they are less ‘individual’, less ‘human’ than Europeans. Or maybe the smaller stature simply reflects the David-like character of the Japanese victory over the Russian Goliath.

I came across these cartoons a while ago, and can’t recall exactly where I found them.

219 – Found: a Map of the Island in ‘Lost’

Lost is not only the title of a popular American tv series, it also describes the exasperated feeling of those viewers looking for a semblance of a plot in the series. The broad outline goes something like this: The survivors of a crashed jumbo jet on a transpacific flight find themselves stranded on a tropical island, cut off from the civilised world and left to fend for themselves.

But that is where the similarities with Robinson Crusoë’s adventures end. They would be too tedious for today’s viewing audiences, used to shows that are fast-paced and action-packed. For example: Crusoë spent two whole years in hiding when he saw another person’s footsteps on his island. Imagine turning that into prime time tv fare.

Thus, we are provided with a dizzying array of mysteries wrapped in riddles, well hidden inside several family-sized enigmas, including but not limited to: the hatch, the Dharma Initiative and the ‘Others’. These are all somehow connected to each other, although it’s never quite clear how everything fits together. As if that is not disorienting enough, there are visions, dreams, flash backs and the occasional flash forward to ostensibly illuminate but actually obfuscate the progress of what for lack of a better definition we shall call the progression of the story.

So what do you do when you are lost in Lost? You draw a map, of course. This one places several elements of the series in an arrangement that looks like it’s designed to be a memory aide for the bewildered viewer.

The map does not resolve the one thing that has always bugged me most about the series: if you would spend all that time on an island, wouldn’t you give it a name? Every other island on the planet has one. Why not this one?

This map was sent in by Loirogato Gostoso, who refers to a Cleonir Maram as its publisher.