Explainer: 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. 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.

How Japan came to possess Taiwan

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 taels 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.

Over 600,000 in Taiwan killed 

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.

Between 1896 and 1930, local indigenous groups mounted more than 150 armed uprisings. The most devastating was the Wushe Incident of 1930. As Japan sought to exploit forest resources in the Wushe region, it forced Indigenous peoples into grueling labor, violated their customs, and subjected Indigenous women to abuse, assault and even trafficking. Resentment simmered.

In October 1930, more than 1,200 people in Wushe rose in revolt. Japan responded by deploying large numbers of police and troops, using artillery and even poison gas in a brutal crackdown. Entire communities were nearly annihilated.

Historical estimates suggest that more than 600,000 people of Taiwan were killed during Japan's 50-year rule, a staggering toll that remains an indelible scar on the Chinese nation.

Economic plunder

Taiwan also became a major source of wealth for Japan. From the start, the Japanese government-general's office imposed monopoly systems that handed control of Taiwan's key commodities, including camphor, tobacco, tea and salt, to Japanese conglomerates.

At that time, Taiwan produced about 80 percent of the world's camphor supply. In 1898 alone, Mitsui Bussan, a Japanese general trading company, reaped more than 3.58 million yuan (about $0.5 million today) in profits from its exclusive monopoly, according to Wang Jian, a researcher from the Chinese History Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Japan also launched large-scale land surveys and enacted land laws that allowed it to seize fertile farmland, ensuring a steady flow of colonial revenue. Rice and sugar were the island's largest exports, and almost all were shipped to Japan. As a result, rice shortages frequently plagued Taiwan.

Sugarcane farmers were forced to sell to Japanese-owned sugar companies at artificially low prices. More than 90 percent of Taiwan's sugar was exported to Japan each year. There is a saying in Taiwan, "The history of Taiwan's sugar industry is the history of Japanese colonialism."

Cultural suppression

Japan also practiced assimilation policies to reshape Taiwan society. Japanese replaced Chinese in schools, while Japanese cultural indoctrination, from bushidō training to the glorification of the Yamato spirit, became mandatory. Secondary and higher education opportunities for youth in Taiwan were severely restricted.

Local religions were also suppressed. Meanwhile, Shinto shrines spread across the island. From the early 1940s, people in Taiwan were not allowed to use Chinese names and were often pressured into adopting Japanese names.

As Japan's wartime mobilization intensified, Taiwan became a major source of military manpower. In 1943, the Japanese military introduced a "special volunteer" system. In 1945, conscription was imposed, drafting tens of thousands of Taiwan youths into Japan's armed forces.

As the aggressor and colonial ruler, and later as a defeated country in World War II, Japan's recent posture of speaking as a former ruler over Taiwan and hinting at armed involvement is not only a blatant provocation to China but also runs counter to the post-war international order and the principles of international law. Instead, Japan must reflect deeply, learn the lessons of history, and handle the Taiwan question with utmost caution.