Korektoj

There is an island country called Taiwan off the southeast coast of China.

This country and Japan have had deep relations --both in good and bad meanings.

In 1871, several fishers from Ryukyu (now called Okinawa) were killed by Taiwanese aborigines in Taiwan.

Japan decided to send about three thousand soldiers there in protest.

Japan send its troops abroad for the first time in two hundred and seventy-five years since the war between Japan and Korea in 1596.

In 1895, which was a year after the Sino-Japanese War, Japan obtained Taiwan from China as compensation.

Japanese rule modernized Taiwan rapidly.

They banned abuse of marijuana, built schools and hospitals, constructed dams, developed agriculture skills.

Of course, however, they did bad things as well.

In 1930, aborigines living in Wushe, Tainan attacked a school, killing about a hundred and forty Japanese people, including women and children.

What made them do that was the cruel way Japanese police officers had them work.

They also looked down on them as savages, which always hurt their pride.

Japanese soldiers attacked their villages in retaliation for the incident, killing many of them.

In 1945, Japan lost WWII and relinquished Taiwan.

Before long, the Nationalist Party moved into this island.

"Dogs left and pigs came," said some Taiwanese people, which means, "Japanese rule was like dogs; they would often middle our lives or customs, but they keep the piece at least.

On the other hand, the Nationalist Party's rule is like pigs; they just rob things and arrest many innocent people." Since President Lee Teng-hui democratized Taiwan around 1990s, Taiwan and Japan's relations began to get better though they didn't have diplomatic relations.

When Taiwan had a big earthquake in 1999, Japan sent its rescue team very quickly.

They never forgot it.

When Japan had a huge earthquake in 2011, the great number of Taiwanese people helped Japan massively; their contributions reached twenty billions yen, which were bigger than those from any other country.

Though these two countries have a territorial dispute today, I believe that we can keep good relations.

Both of these two points are important --reflecting the past and working together for the future.