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Article: TAIWAN RULED UNDER MANY FLAGS.(Local)
- Article from:
- Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO)
- Article date:
- March 24, 1996
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Rocky Mountain News. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Dialog LLC by Gale Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Holger Jensen News International Editor
Nominally part of the Chinese empire since the Song dynasty, (960-1279), Taiwan was inhabited only by non-Chinese aboriginals before the 17th Century.
The Chinese regarded them as savages and never had much interest in the island they now call an ``inalienable part of China's sovereign territory.'' In fact, Bei-jing twice gave it away - to the Portuguese and Dutch - before a Communist regime laid claim to the Taiwan it had never ruled.
Portuguese seafarers established a trading post on what they called Ilha Formosa in 1600. They were followed by the Dutch, who built Fort Zeelandia in 1620 and ...