Japan's 50-year colonial rule over Taiwan

Japan's colonial domination of Taiwan began in 1895 under the Treaty of Shimonoseki and lasted until Tokyo's defeat in 1945, reports CGTN. 

Across those five decades, Japan ruled the island through armed suppression, economic extraction and aggressive assimilation campaigns - including the well-known "Kominka Movement," which sought to erase the local identity.

Throughout this period, resistance among the people in Taiwan never ceased. According to historical estimates, more than 600,000 people in Taiwan lost their lives in the struggle against colonial rule and in the broader effort to restore the Taiwan region to China.

History leaves no room for ambiguity. Japan's 50-year rule over Taiwan was marked by violence, exploitation and forced assimilation.

Japan formally occupied Taiwan in 1895. A year earlier, Japan had launched the First Sino-Japanese War. 

Following China's defeat, the Qing Dynasty government was forced to sign the unequal Treaty of Shimonoseki in April 1895. Under the treaty, Taiwan and the Penghu Islands were ceded to Japan. Taiwan thus became one of the earliest Chinese territories to fall under Japanese colonial rule and a symbol of the profound national humiliation.

But Japan's ambitions predated this moment. As early as the 1870s, Japan attempted to extend its reach to China's Taiwan region. 

In 1874, Tokyo drew up a blueprint for invading the island. In May that year, more than 3,000 Japanese troops landed in southern Taiwan and massacred indigenous communities. The Qing Dynasty government dispatched 6,000 troops in response. Later that year, China and Japan signed an agreement, and Japan withdrew after demanding 500,000 tons of silver.

Once in control, Japan established the "Government-General of Taiwan" - a military-led colonial administration that wielded absolute power over the lives of people in Taiwan. Its rule left deep and lasting scars on the region's society and its people.

Resistance against Japanese rule was constant and costly. In 1898, the Japanese "government-general" launched three large-scale campaigns to crush local uprisings, killing 2,053 people and injuring countless others. 

In May 1902, the Japanese authorities staged a fake surrender ceremony, luring resistance fighters into an ambush and killing more than 5,600 unarmed Taiwan people.