On another issue that began at this time,the relationship between the Nationalist Party and the Communist Party.
They initially collaborated during the warlord period when they were both in Guandong marshalling their forces and being bankrolled by the Russians. After Jiang had established his rule in the Northern Expedition, he turned on them as a threat to his rule and fought an unsuccesful campagn to eliminate them, which is the period of the Long March and the various provincial Soviets. His pre-occupiation with Communism led Jiang to ignore the Japanese threat, which only ended when he was kidnapped by Zhang Xueliang and forced to agree to a new (tenuous) co-operation during the Japanese invasion. The communists spent much of that period scheming their seizure of power after the war ended rather than actually fighting Japan. After the Japanese surrender, various nationalist blunders allowed the communists to get the governance of the territories liberated by the Russians and use these to fight the war which drove the nationalists first to the south and then to Taiwan.
Council of Florence-FerraraWhy is it that most nations "refuse" to notice the ROC? Do they not want to anger the PRC?[/quote]
As xt828 says, the present "blue" Guomindang government of Taiwan is just as keen on "one China" as the reds. Even the PRC and the ROC themselves now have an informal working relationship. The dynamic they've arrived at is that they both believe in one Chinese government, but in their mutual dealings they leave which one it is an open question. Taiwain seperatism, advocated by "greens", is unacceptable to China because a "rebellious Chinese faction" is something they can negotiate with, whereas seperatism is illegal in the PRC constitution. When the greens were in power, they ducked the whole question.
An artcile in the
Economist the other day suggest that President Ma's bid for leadership of the GMD is part of a scheme by he and President Hu to secure their legacies just before their terms run out at similar times in a few years by meeting in their capacities as party leaders to further cross-strait relations.
I actually think that the Nationalist Party could have kept control over the nation,and forced the Communists to Taiwan..or force the break up of the party all together.
They could have if they hadn't made various blunders, but Taiwan is the least likely place for the commies to end up. They had essentially no presence on the island anyway, leaving aside the fact that under the Japanese surrender terms it was instantly handed over to the ROC.