Chiang Ching-Kuo A Motive Analysis

Abstract: After World War Two the final battles of the Chinese civil war were being played out in mainland China. The forces between the upstart Chinese Communist Party and the U.S ally by the name of The Nationalist Party (KMT) clashed in what would ultimately end in a bitter defeat for KMT. In a last ditch effort to avoid total defeat KMT fled to an offshore island by the name of Taiwan and subjugated its population and effectively created a renegade province. For the next 50 years the political and socioeconomic development between China and Taiwan would grow apart considerably. One country would adhere to the teachings of Mao Zedong creating the world's most populous communist country and the other would through different hardships evolve through a brutal authoritarian regime into a stable and healthy democratic country. Chiang Ching-Kuo was one of the dictators that many consider the one that jumpstarted the democratization reforms in Taiwan. While history may consider him a democratizing dictator there are those that say he only democratized because he had to.. This paper aims to examine his motivations for democratizing. Did he democratize because he believed in the ideals of democracy or did he do it because of internal and external influences he had no control over?