Republic Of China (Taiwan) Episodes

The Korean War would almost certainly have ended much earlier but for the tricky question of what to do with Chinese POWs. The 21,000 Red Chinese soldiers captured were finally given a choice: go home to China...or go to "Free China" on Taiwan, the ROC. The choices made by these captives were not, however, free from influence. Every side in the conflict had an angle that would benefit themselves, and each tried to steer the POWs to making the "right choice." Some of this "steering" involved drastic measures such as forcibly tattooing political slogans -- or, worse, cutting such tattoos off. Here's the somewhat forgotten tale of why Taiwan once annually celebrated "123 Freedom Day."

It's 1950 and a war-weary world is at it again. Communist China pours fuel on the conflict in Korea by sending in a quarter of a million soldiers. ROC President Chiang Kai-shek has, from the start, offered to send his Nationalist troops. MacArthur is now, more than ever, determined to use them. But American president Truman continues to say "No!" and he fires MacArthur over the general's resistance to Washington's policy of containing the war. Taiwan, however, would end up playing a central role in the war. Here's just one example: The UN/US forces can't understand Chinese radio intercepts or interrogate Chinese prisoners. Is there somewhere with Mandarin speakers who have translation and interrogation experience? Yep. Taiwan. Listen to part one of this episode now... and make sure to come back for part two, to hear the tale of how Taiwan indirectly helped the Korean War drag on for close to two extra years.

In 1933, on a winter’s night in the Russian town of Yekaterinburg, Faina Vakhreva -- then 17 years old -- was walking home and became the unwanted subject of attention of a Russian man who began harassing her. A 23-year-old Chinese man also walking home at the time, saw what was happening and chased away the harasser. The Chinese man was future Taiwan (ROC) president Chiang Ching-kuo. Faina and CCK would be a couple for 55 years.

A U.S. officer shoots dead a 'Peeping Tom' allegedly spying on the officer's wife as she took a shower. The subsequent trial and verdict lead to the incredible -- yet little-known -- story of riots that ransacked the US embassy in downtown Taipei... in 1957! --When the ROC and the USA were supposed to be best buddies.