TAIPEI, Oct 27 (Reuters) – Taiwan’s defence minister on Tuesday said China was waging “cognitive warfare” after Beijing marked the anniversary of Japan’s handover of the island to Chinese rule with satellite images of Taipei and a military propaganda poster.
Japan took over Taiwan from China’s Qing Dynasty in 1895 and ruled it until 1945, when it transferred the island to the Republic of China government. Both Beijing and Taipei commemorate the event, now in its 81st year.
On Sunday’s anniversary of the handover, China released high-resolution satellite pictures of Taipei, including the train station and the National Palace Museum. The museum holds a vast collection of treasures brought to Taiwan in 1949, when the Republic of China government fled there after losing a civil war to the communists.
The Chinese military’s Eastern Theatre Command also published a poster with a map of Taiwan superimposed on images of fighter jets and warships, with the title “Remember the history of the restoration”.
Speaking to reporters at parliament in Taipei, Taiwan Defence Minister Wellington Koo said China was using the anniversary to carry out “cognitive warfare”.
“We must stress that the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949. The War of Resistance has absolutely nothing to do with the People’s Republic of China — this is a clear, objective fact,” he added, referring to World War Two and the Japanese invasion of China which began in 1931.
Taiwan’s military marked a different anniversary, the start of an unsuccessful late-October 1949 invasion attempt by the People’s Liberation Army of Kinmen, islands which sit next to the Chinese coast and remain under Taiwan control to this day.
Koo said that was a date much more worthy of remembering.
“This reminds us once again that China’s determination to annex the Republic of China and Taiwan by force has never changed. We should be even more vigilant,” he added.
Beijing has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. The democratically elected government in Taipei rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims.
Neither government formally recognises the other, and their shared World War Two history is a frequent source of tension.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Saad Sayeed)
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