Martial Law Declared in Taiwan Province

Source: The Chiang Regime’s Martial Law Suffocated Taiwan for Thirty-Nine Years
From: Modern Taiwan’s Tragic Historical Record
Date: 2007   Author: Qiu Guo-zhen

As the tide of the Chinese Civil War turned decisively against the Nationalist (Kuomintang) government, the Republic of China declared nationwide martial law on December 10, 1948 — known as the First National Martial Law Declaration. Regions remote from the front lines, including Xinjiang, Xikang, Qinghai, Taiwan Province, and Tibet, were initially excluded from the decree. Not until May 20, 1949 was martial law declared across all of Taiwan Province.

Following the proclamation of martial law in Taiwan, the Nationalist government’s position on the Chinese mainland continued to deteriorate. On July 7, 1949, Acting President Li Zongren issued the Second National Martial Law Declaration. The Nationalist government relocated to Taipei in December 1949, while the Communist Party took control of most of the mainland, beginning a prolonged cross-strait standoff. The martial law decree became a cornerstone of the Nationalist government’s rule in Taiwan, effectively placing the island in a state of emergency akin to wartime.

 

The martial law proclamation as published in the Taiwan Shin Sheng Daily (Source: Wikipedia)

 

 

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External Links

• Categories of Political Cases During Taiwan’s Martial Law Period (Source: Professor Li Xiao-feng’s Website)
• The Martial Law Decree Was Fundamentally Invalid — Taiwanese People Were Deceived (Source: New Taiwan Weekly)
• Second Chinese Civil War (Source: Wikipedia)
• Decoding Taiwan’s Martial Law (Source: Taiwan Civil Government)