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Humanity At Stake: China's Aggression, Taiwan's Democracy, and 23 Million Citizens' Human Right to Self-Determination

Abraham Young
CreateSpace (2008)
ISBN 9781438214115
Reviewed by Randy A. Lakin for RebeccasReads (1/09)

I have always admired Taiwan, but I never really understood its background until now.  In Abraham Young’s book “Humanity at stake” he really enlightened me on the past, present and future of Taiwan.  His book covers conversations he had with two co-workers, one of Chinese heredity, one of American heredity and Young himself of Taiwanese Heredity.  Through these discussions Young talks about the fall of the Kuomintang, (KMT), party that ruled China from 1911 until approximately 1945.  At which time they were ran out of China by Mao and the Chinese Communist Party.  The KMT fled to Taiwan and setup government.  Young explains about the absolute suppression of the Taiwanese people that started on February 28th, 1947: the “White Terror” period.

This period saw tens of thousands of Taiwanese people murdered and came to be known as the “2-28 Massacre.”  This era lasted for forty years.  He explains that during the years to follow, the Taiwanese people could not even speak their own language; they had to speak only Chinese.  I was unaware of a lot of these facts.  The book is full of great footnotes giving times, dates and additional information.  Young’s book has really opened my eyes to the plight of the Taiwanese people.  Even to this day, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the United Nations have turned their backs on the Taiwanese people because of alarm at upsetting China.  China just says it’s an internal matter and to stay out of it.

Young also points out that the people of Taiwan live under constant threat from China each and every day.  China has approximately 1,400 ballistic missiles pointed at this small island.  Young goes on to ask why the Chinese seem to think that they should have the right to control Taiwan.  My personal opinion is that China is scared of other countries, which is why they won’t let go of Tibet.  China wants to be bigger, stronger and more powerful than everyone.  Great Britain was that way in the 1800’s: they owned half of the world back then, but they grew up.  I can say that because my heredity is English.  Maybe someday China will grow up and learn to get along with its neighbors.  If you are looking for a book that will explain to you the history of Taiwan in the 1900s, then this book is for you.

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