Anti-imperialism and Chinese nationalism Chiang Kai-shek, the head of the Kuomintang, warned the
Soviet Union and other foreign countries about interfering in Chinese affairs. He was personally angry at the way China was treated by foreigners, mainly by the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Chiang's
New Life Movement campaigned for the end of Soviet, Western, American, and other foreign influences in China.
Chen Lifu, a
CC Clique member of the KMT, said, "Communism originated from Soviet imperialism, which has encroached on our country." It was also noted that "the white bear of the North Pole is known for its viciousness and cruelty." Chiang was also staunchly against imperialism and colonialism, as he opposed
FDR's offer of China's seizure of
Indochina and argued that China had no intent to replace Western imperialism with its own. He also viewed foreign powers, including the US, the USSR, and the
Empire of Japan as imperialist powers that wanted to exploit China. Chiang promoted strong Chinese nationalism throughout the territories controlled by the ROC as well as the Tridemist ideal of a unified "
Dang Guo" (
Party-state), to solidify its rule and ideological supremacy.
Mandarin Chinese became the sole official language, and standard education curriculums emphasized Chinese history with Confucianism culture. As an opponent of
Japanese imperialism, Chiang was a supporter of the
Korean independence movement. Under the Nationalist government, the
Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea received political asylum and support, and the secret militant branch
Blue Shirts Society (BSS) supported left-wing nationalist
Kim Won-bong and Kim-led
Korean National Revolutionary Party. To promote the cultural legitimacy of his regime in contrast to the PRC led by the Communists, which was engaging in the
Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, Chiang launched the
Chinese Cultural Renaissance in Taiwan to promote Chinese culture and traditional values.
Land reform Chiang, a committed
Tridemist, supported attempts at land reform in-lieu of
Georgist principles. In a 1924 interview with the
New York American, reprinted in
Land and Freedom, Chiang states: We have neither capitalists nor great land owners. We have no problems that bother great industrial nations. We have only a land problem but no great landlords. We mean to adopt as a policy the rule that the government shall either tax or buy all lands according to values fixed by their owners. When the landlord has fixed the value and the Government has recorded it, the value of land the government does not buy increases. The increased value shall go to the government.
Anti-capitalism and socialism The Kuomintang was a Chinese nationalist revolutionary party that had been supported by the Soviet Union. It was organized on
Leninism.
Anti-communism and fascist influences The
Blue Shirts Society, also known under a variety of other names, has been described as one of the most relevant fascistic or
ultranationalist groups in China at the time. It began as a secret society in the KMT military before being reformed within the party. By the 1930s, it had influence upon
China's economy and
society. Historian Jeffrey Crean notes, however, that the Blue Shirts impacted only elite politics, not the vast majority of China's population. They were influenced by KMT contact with Nazi advisors and inspired by the German
Brownshirts and the Italian
Blackshirts. Unlike those organizations, however, the Blue Shirts were composed of political elites, not the popular masses. The Kuomintang sought to build a one-party ideological state in China, called
Dang Guo, to solidify its rule and ideological supremacy. and thus, it rejected individualism and liberalism. The
Kuomintang launched the initiative on 19 February 1934 as part of an
anti-communist campaign and soon enlarged the campaign to target all of China. Some historians regard this movement as imitating
Nazism and regard this movement as being a neo-nationalistic movement used to elevate Chiang's control of everyday lives.
Frederic Wakeman suggested that the New Life Movement was "Confucian fascism". In a 1935 speech, Chiang stated that "fascism is what China now most needs" and described fascism as the stimulant for a declining society. Jay Taylor argues that Chiang's ideology does not espouse the general ideology of fascism despite his growing sympathies with fascist ideas in the 1930s. Chiang repeatedly attacked his enemies such as the
Empire of Japan as fascistic and ultra-militaristic; he also declared his opposition to the fascist ideology in the 1940s. A. James Gregor and Maria Hsia Chang, explicitly reject "fascism" categorization, arguing that the regime lacked the totalitarian mass mobilization of European fascism and functioned instead as a form of
developmental nationalism or
military authoritarianism. Despite the influences of fascism on the Kuomintang's ideology, when it comes to categorizing fascist regimes, KMT and Chiang's regime is often not categorized as fascist.
Authoritarian capitalism After the government of the Republic of China moved to Taiwan, Chiang Kai-shek's economic policy turned towards to economic liberalism. He used
Sho-Chieh Tsiang and other liberal economists to promote
economic liberalization reforms in Taiwan. However, Jay Taylor has noted that the developmental model of Chiangism in Taiwan still had elements of socialism, and the Gini index of Taiwan was around 0.28 by the 1970s, lower than the relatively equal
West Germany. ROC (Taiwan) was one of the most equal countries in the pro-western bloc. The lower 40% income group doubled their income share to 22% of total income, with the upper 20% shrinking from 61% to 39%, compared to Japanese rule. with the
state playing a crucial role in directing the
market economy. Unlike most other major capitalist countries, small businesses and state-owned enterprises flourished under this economic model in Taiwan, but it didn't see the emergence of corporate monopolies. After the democratization of Taiwan, it began to slowly drift away from the Chiangist economic policy to embrace a more
free market system as part of the
economic globalization process under the context of
neoliberalism.
Anti-separatism of the Republic of China, called the
Map of National Shame. It depicts all the territories that China perceived to have lost control or influence over to the Western powers and Japan. The Kuomintang (especially under the rule of Chiang), being anti-separatist, claims sovereignty over
Outer Mongolia and
Tuva as well as the territories of the modern People's Republic and Republic of China. Nationalist irredentism, especially in conceptions of "
Greater China", were used by Kuomintang propaganda, especially calling for the reclamation of Taiwan from Japanese rule, and other territory taken by foreign powers. == Legacy ==