Selecting Which Pasts to Remember: Memories about Taiwanese Imperial Japan Servicemen in the Formation of Identities in Taiwan in the 1980s and 1990s

The late 1980s to the 1990s witnessed profound transformations in Taiwan, marked by rapid democratization and the emergence of a distinct Taiwanese identity, countering the previously dominant Chinese identity. While scholars have explored the evolution of Taiwanese identity by analyzing constitutional amendments, debates on the National Assembly, conflicts between ethnic groups, and recollections of events such as the White Terror (the ruling Kuomintang’s political repression against Taiwanese civilians and dissenters), a significant aspect has been overlooked: the memories about Taiwanese who fought for Japan during WWII. This paper scrutinizes newspapers published in Taiwan and Japan during the late 1980s and 1990s to dissect how recollections of WWII, particularly those invoked during Servicemen’s lawsuits against Japan, influenced historical narratives. Additionally, it explores the reasons behind the overshadowing of these memories by others, such as those about the White Terror. First, the persistent stigma portraying the Servicemen as Hanjian (traitors against the Chinese people) played a pivotal role, further intensified by suspicions regarding the association between pro-independence advocates, litigation supporters, and the communists. This stigma not only rendered these memories inconvenient for the Chinese historical memories about WWII, a crucial foundation for constructing the Chinese identity, but also led some Servicemen to remain silent about their experiences. Secondly, these memories proved inconvenient for islanders who came to Taiwan before 1945 aiming to forge a Taiwanese identity rooted in unique colonial experiences. Islanders sought differentiation from the mainlanders who came to Taiwan after 1945 through these memories, justifying their call for independence by portraying the Japanese as benevolent colonizers and the Chinese as ruthless. Unsurprisingly, the sufferings of Servicemen during Japan's war were detrimental to this comparison. Therefore, the memories associated with the Servicemen were deemed inconvenient for both sides in shaping historical narratives crucial to the formation of Taiwanese and Chinese identities.