Rebellious Province?
So, I’m watching “60 Minutes” last night, as they reported about Chinese espionage against the US. Then out of the blue, I hear Taiwan described by Scott Pelley as, “the rebellious Chinese island that mainland China wants to reclaim.”
Wow. Except for the bit about Taiwan being an island, there is almost nothing in that sentence that is factually correct. It is almost the complete reversal of the truth.
Taiwan is, in fact, the last vestige of the Republic of China–the government that was pushed off the mainland by the communist rebels in 1949. The communist government in Peking–that’s right, I wrote “Peking”–never occupied it or owned it, so they can’t “reclaim” it. It isn’t a “rebellious” province. It is the last outpost of the legitimate–and I use that word very advisedly, considering the Kuomintang’s shaky claim to legitimacy–ROC government that the Chicoms drove out of the mainland.
That really irked me.