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Relations between the R.O.C. (Taiwan) and Spain have never been as close as Taiwan's ties to, for example, the United States. But back in the days when Taiwan was ruled as a one-party state, there were more connections than one might think between the R.O.C. and Spain, which was also a one-party state under the rule of a "generalissimo."
Cover: Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and, right: Generalissimo Francisco Franco (Images via Wikimedia Commons/KAI Studio Colorized History)
Below: Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek speaking in China in 1937. (Image via Wikimedia Commons)
Below: Generalissimo Francisco Franco speaking in Bilbao in 1939. (Image via FT.com)
Below: Chiang Wei-kuo 蔣緯國 (1916-1997) as a Nazi officer candidate, c.1938. Also known as Wego Chiang, he was the adopted son of Republic of China Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang Wei-kuo was an officer candidate in the Wehrmacht (the armed forces of the Nazi regime) before fighting in the Second Sino-Japanese War and Chinese Civil War.
(Image via Wikimedia Commons)
Below: Spanish dictator Francisco Franco walks with German Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. The pair met in October 1940 at a railway station in Hendaye, France, near the Spanish-French border. The object of the Meeting of Hendaye, (or Interview of Hendaye) was to attempt to resolve disagreements over the conditions for Spain to join the Axis Powers in their war against the British Empire. However, after seven hours of talks, the Spanish demands were deemed too much for Hitler to accept and the talks failed.
(Read more about the meeting HERE)
(Image via Wikimedia Commons)
Inspiration and the main information source for this episode was Spanish academic Miguel Angel del Riìo Morrillas’ excellent article, “Spain and the Republic of China: ‘the Sentinels of the West and the East’ (1953–1973).”
Link:
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Check our very first episode, the story of a very white man who showed up in London in 1703... and claimed to be from Formosa. Or try a foodie episode from Season 3. Or, for those who want some harder-core history, hear the tale of the Lockheed U-2 pilot Wang Hsi-chueh 王錫爵, who became famous for defecting to the PRC by hijacking China Airlines Flight 334 on May 3, 1986.
