Presidents Of The Republic Of China On Taiwan

"They (opposition) say we are selling out Taiwan and that we lost something, but they never say what exactly we have lost."

"Not everyone understands this. But we (ROC government) have done what needed to be done, and we will keep doing so until the very end."

"Traditional Chinese characters carry both cultural significance and artistic values and promoting these characters has nothing to do with any political stance. It's very important for us not to sacrifice the characters for tourism."

"We must actively engage in regional economic integration, as Taiwan is an island with few natural resources and a relatively small economy. Taiwan had signed very few free-trade agreements in the past. How can we not be in a hurry to catch up?"

"Your Excellency, the American people share your abiding faith in the ultimate triumph of justice over evil. We look confidently toward the day when the great people of China will again take their place in the struggle for those principles of freedom and progress espoused by Dr. Sun Yat-Sen."

"The only world leader who sympathised with Indian aspirations at that time was Chiang Kai-shek of China whom Pandit Nehru had denounced as a reactionary tool of Western imperialism only a few years earlier."

"You and I are men of history / No little men chattering about minor affairs! / Go, let go, my honoured friend / Do not look back."

"We must unite to exterminate these Japanese bandits, before we can be safe."

"Thinking about the people I admire in this life, you, my lady, are the only one...recalling the hundred battles fought on the front and my own type of heroism, I cannot but feel that so-called achievement is just an illusion or a dream. And yet, my lady, your talent, beauty and virtue are not things I can ever forget. The only question is: what does my lady think of this retired soldier who has been abandoned by the whole world?"

"Let our people realize to the full the meaning of 'the limit of endurance,' and the extent of sacrifice implied. For once that stage is reached, we can only sacrifice and fight to the bitter end."

"Which are you, my subordinate or my enemy? If my subordinate, you should obey my orders. If you are my enemy you should kill me without delay. You should choose either of these two steps, but say nothing more for I will not listen to you...My head may be cut off, my body may be mutilated, but I must preserve the honour of the Chinese people, and must uphold law and order....If I allow the honour of the 400,000,000 people whom I represent to be degraded by accepting any demands to save my own life, we should lose our national existence....Why don't you kill me now?"

"If we do not weed the present body of corruption, bribery, perfunctoriness, and ignorance, and establish instead a clean and efficient administration, the day will soon come when the revolution will be started against us."

"How would I differ from the Communists...if I were to imitate the so-called fascists . . . of Italy?"

"I deeply wish that my son could come back. However...I would rather have no offspring than sacrifice our nation's interests."

"It is my greatest wish, that German-Chinese cooperation always be supported by accomplishment, and that the personal affinity between both countries always be as strong as it is today. You, Herr Reichskanzler, have already given expression to this thought in that you had the honorary sword of the German Reich given to me. I take it as a symbol of soldierly loyalty and as a true sign of the friendly relationship of our countries."

"When I was young, I did not try my best to learn how to conduct myself. As a result I have not done anything good for my parents and I do not know how to be kind to my children. I regret that....I miss Ching-kuo very much. I am bad because I am not taking good care of him. I am sorry about that....Madame Sun wanted me to release Naulen [a detained Polish Communist charged with running the CCP's regional bureaus from Shanghai] in return for the repatriation of Ching-kuo, [but] I would rather let Ching-kuo be exiled or killed in Soviet Russia than exchange a criminal for him. God decides whether you will have an heir and whether your nation will be subjugated. How dare I do anything about it. What I want is not to violate the law, betray my country, harm the reputation of my parents, or waste my life. It is not worth it to sacrifice the interests of the country for the sake of my son."

"If and when the war starts, no matter where or whoever you are or if you are young or old, Northerner or Southerner, you all have the responsibility of protecting our home and repelling the enemy, you all must have the will to achieve ultimate sacrifice."

"The Japanese are a disease of the skin, the Communists are a disease of the heart."

"Mao is a strange man whose personality is like the Tao, sometimes yin and sometimes yang; he has a soft-as-cotton outer layer, but at the same time has sharp needles hiding inside... I do not think he will achieve anything, in the end, he will be crushed inside my palm."

"We must use every inch of our blood to take back every inch of our land, you ten thousand youths and soldiers."

"The sky cannot have two suns."

"These Japanese troops slaughtered every man, woman and child in those areas — let me repeat — these Japanese troops slaughtered every man, woman and child in those areas."

"Right will triumph over might-this great truth which we never once doubted has been finally vindicated. Our faith in justice through black and hopeless days and eight long years of struggle has today been rewarded. The historical mission of our National Revolution has at last been fulfilled....We have won the victory. But it is not yet the final victory. The universal power of righteousness has not simply achieved one more triumph. We and the people of all the world fervently hope that this war may be the last war in which civilized nations engage. Permanent world peace can be established only upon the basis of democratic freedom and equality and the brotherly co-operation of all nations and races. We must march forward on the great road of democracy and unity and give our collective support to the ideals of lasting peace. I urge all of our friends of the Allied nations and all my own countrymen to face the fact that the peace we have gained by arms is not necessarily the beginning of permanent peace. Only if our enemies are conquered on the battleground of reason, only if they repent thoroughly of their folly and become lovers of world peace like ourselves, can we hope to satisfy the yearning for peace and achieve the final goal of the great war that has just ended"

"We have...repeatedly declared that we were only opposed to the Japanese militarists and harbored no enmity for the Japanese people.... While we must insist on the strict compliance with the term of the surrender, we must not look forward to retaliation, and much less shall we impose insults on the innocent civilians. We can only sympathize with their plight—coerced and misled as they have been by their Fascist and Nazi leaders, and hope that they will repent of their mistake and sins. If, on the other hand, we attempt to retaliate with atrocity for the past atrocities of the enemy, and repay with insult their mistaken superiority complex in the past, then the spirit of revenge shall be interminably perpetuated—a development far from the intentions of our righteousness-loving Army."

"Seeing the Republic of China on the verge of death, I am moving ahead with tears in my eyes. There is only one road ahead, but it is torturous. Don’t fear. The road has been blazed with blood by our revolutionary forefathers. We must move forward today – forward, never retreat. Around us is darkness; ahead of us are dangers. With a ray of hope and my allegiance to Dr. Sun Yat-sen, I will continue my struggle without fail."

"If when I die, I am still a dictator, I will certainly go down into the oblivion of all dictators. If, on the other hand, I succeed in establishing a truly stable foundation for a democratic government, I will live forever in every home in China."

"As long as we have Taiwan, the Communists can never win."

"I am saddened to see these scenes of violence against unarmed protesters (in Hong Kong) and hope that Taiwan can continue to serve as a beacon of democracy for those who seek freedom."

"The institute (Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology)'s researchers laid the foundation for its success by daring to brave the challenges they faced and learning from their failures."

"You can have different stances, but it's wrong to hit someone (Culture Minister Cheng Li-chun). What consequence would there be if the same behavior happened in the authoritarian era? The answer is exactly the reason we should cherish the democracy."

"If (Mainland) China's dream is a dream of democracy, Taiwan will provide all needed assistance in the process of realizing that dream."

"I also hope that Mainland China does not misinterpret or misjudge the current (cross-strait) situation, or think that Taiwanese will bow to such pressure. In a democratic society, this kind of pressure is felt by all. No administration in Taiwan can make a decision that runs counter to public opinion."

"I would like to stress that, we would be happy to see normal cross-strait exchanges based on equality and dignity, openness and transparency, and no political talks."

"Politics should be as simple as possible; it should respond directly to the needs of the people, it should help to solve the problems for the people and this is what I want to do for Taiwan."

"Many people think the DPP does not welcome Chinese tourists. This is definitely not true."

"Taiwan is the Republic of China, the Republic of China is Taiwan."

"People feel anxious, especially when we have to wonder whether the president, Taiwan's democratically elected president, will be addressed as president. If he (Ma Ying-jeou) cannot even defend his own title, what can he defend for us?"

"I want to stress that the situation in Ukraine (being attacked by Russia) and in the Taiwan Strait are fundamentally different, not only because of the natural barrier of the Taiwan Strait, but also Taiwan's geopolitical and strategic status."

"In the face of (Mainland) China's suppression, Taiwan's sincerity towards our friends (states with diplomatic relations with ROC) remains unchanged, as does our position regarding maintaining the peaceful and prosperous status quo in the Asia-Pacific region."

"We are so proud of your leadership — a woman president in one of the freest societies in the world. We will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan."

"President Tsai Ing-wen is a signal lamp casting out China’s looming shadow, conveying to the world that Taiwan will not acquiesce to the Chinese Communist Party."

"If President Tsai (Ing-wen) refuses to accept the '1992 consensus' and refuses to acknowledge its existence, I implore her to provide a specific solution for discourse with (Mainland) China, and not just throw around hipster slogans."

"Don't think that because many Taiwanese came from China, Taiwan is a part of China."

"I am more than seventy years old. Having lived under different regimes, from Japanese colonialism to Taiwan’s recovery, I have greatly experienced the miseries of the Taiwanese people. In the period of Japanese colonialism, a Taiwanese would be punished by being forced to kneel out in the sun for speaking Tai-yü. The situation was the same when Taiwan was recovered: my son, Hsien-wen, and my daughter-in-law, Yüeh-yün, often wore a dunce board around their necks in the school as punishment for speaking Tai-yü... [Taiwanese peoples’] lives are influenced by history. I think the most miserable people are Taiwanese, who have always tried in vain to get their heads above the water. This was the Taiwanese situation during the period of colonialism; it was not any different after Taiwan’s recovery [that is, the rule of the Chiang-era KMT]. I have deep feelings about this."