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President vows to sweep cross-strait hatred into history

ROC Central News Agency

2009/10/25 16:02:04
Kinmen, Taiwan, Oct. 25 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou vowed Sunday on the Taiwan-held island of Kinmen to dissolve "the hatred" across the Taiwan Strait with the greatest sincerity so as to sweep killing into history and secure eternal peace between the two sides.

Addressing a ceremony to mark the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Kuningtou -- in which Kuomintang troops repulsed an attempted invasion by Chinese communist forces of Kinmen in 1949 -- Ma said the battle rewrote modern Chinese history and ushered in an era in which Taiwan and China are separate and ruled by different governments.

The battle occurred soon after the ROC government relocated its seat from China to Taiwan after being defeated in the Chinese civil war in early 1949.

Some 10,000 Chinese communist troops made shore on Kinmen's Kuningtou beach on the night of Oct. 25, 1949 for a surprise attack, sparking a bitter conflict that lasted for three days. Some 7,000 People's Liberation Army soldiers were taken prisoner and around 3,000 were killed, while 1,200 ROC troops died.

"We should offer our gratitude to the ROC soldiers who sacrificed their lives in the battle to give Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu 60 years to develop in peace," Ma said.

He said the Battle of Kuningtou could easily be forgotten in comparison to other much more turbulent periods since the early 20th Century, when millions of people were killed in the Warlord Era, followed by the anti-Japanese war and the ensuing rise of the Chinese communists, but the battle represents an important and crucial page in modern Chinese history, as it changed the fate of both Taiwan and China.

It marked a watershed in modern Chinese history, as it allowed two political and economic entities with different ideologies to begin their differing experiments on either side of the Taiwan Strait, he continued.

Over the past 60 years, he went on, Taiwan first strived to exist in the conflict between the two facets of democracy and totalitarianism, and then endeavored to develop itself into a democratic economy amid competition among the United States, Japan and China.

By comparison, he noted, China has experienced a totally different 60 years, with the first three decades witnessing the most turbulent, distressing era in which many millions of people died, families were broken and societal core values collapsed.

"China experienced more trying, untold sufferings than Taiwan did in that period," he said.

However, in the most recent 30 years, China has continued conducting social and economic reforms via its unique "socialism with Chinese characteristics, " eventually leading to China's rise on the world stage, he said.

The president traveled to Kinmen to attend the ceremony in the company of Minister of National Defense Kao Hua-chu, National Security Council Secretary-General Su Chi and other high-ranking officials.

(By Garfie Li and Deborah Kuo) ENDITEM/J