|Front Page | Asia-Pacific | Taiwan Elections 2000| |Retreat to
Taiwan In October 1949 Chairman Mao's communists took control on
the mainland and Chiang Kai-shek withdrew his Kuomintang army to
Taiwan, taking with him China's entire gold reserves. More than
1.5 million refugees fled with him adding to resentment among
native Taiwanese against what they saw as a mainland invasion.
In December Chiang declared Taipei the temporary capital of
China, vowing that he would eventually "recover the mainland".
He also issued a decree imposing perpetual martial law - an
order not rescinded until 38 years later. As part of the claim
to represent all China, all the institutions of mainland
government were transferred to Taiwan, including the parliament,
which had representatives for all mainland provinces. Chiang's
government imposed harsh restrictions on civil and political
liberties, jailing or executing thousands of opponents and
clamping down on the use of native Taiwanese dialects. Initially
the US kept well out of t