Sunday, June 16, 2013

Blast from the Past: June 6, 1913, 'Terrible Campaign' Launched in Taiwan

The Japan Times reprinted a piece from a century ago this week:

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‘Terrible campaign’ launched in Taiwan

Military operations against the tribes in northeastern Taiwan were commenced at dawn yesterday. The government forces consist of 3,000 men, of the police and native troops. Mr. Uchida, Chief of the Civil Administration, is on the scene. General Sakuma, Governor-General of Taiwan, will be in the field early next month.

The Governor-General, it is believed, has planned one of the most terrible campaigns for the subjugation of the savage tribes living in eastern Formosa.

Most of these tribes have been brought under the rule of the Japanese Government, but there is one, called the Taruko [now rendered Truku], that has never recognized the sway of foreigners. The tribe lives around the upper reaches of the Takkiri River [Taci Jili River], a locality surrounded by the most rugged and precipitous mountains in Taiwan. The tribe is composed of 20,000 savages of the most ferocious type, and the Chinese Government, when it ruled Formosa, never attempted to subjugate them....
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