After Japan's surrender, a group of Japanese military officers who had committed heinous crimes in China — including Yasuji Okamura, commander-in-chief of the China Expeditionary Army — evaded trial and punishment by aligning themselves with the "anti-communist" camp, and were consequently acquitted. Grateful for the exoneration, Okamura and his likes brazenly declared to "devote themselves wholeheartedly to defeating the red devils".

In September 1949, Major General Cao Shicheng, then the Kuomintang's representative in Japan, reached agreement with Okamura in Tokyo to jointly curb the "spread of communism". Following their talks, Okamura personally drafted the "Guidelines for the Recruitment of Volunteer Troops" which clearly stated in its organizational policy that the like-minded individuals, primarily former officers with a firm "anti-communist" resolve, should be gathered to participate in military operations against China as the vanguard of the "democratic bloc", so as to secure Taiwan with the ultimate goal of "counter-attacking the mainland".

With Okamura acting as the middleman, 17 retired Japanese military officers, led by Major General Naosuke Tomita, a former chief of staff of the Japanese 23rd Army and the South China Expeditionary Army with Bai Hongliang as his Chinese alias, formed an advisory group. They sneaked into Taiwan and officially established the "White Group" — the origin of Japanese anti-China forces reasserting their influence in Taiwan. Most of its members had participated in the war of aggression against China, each bearing the original sin of invasion. To conceal their identities, all Japanese officers adopted Chinese aliases. The advisory group was named the "White Group" (Baituan) for two reasons: first, its leader's alias was Bai Hongliang, and Bai means white in Chinese; and second, "white" was used in opposition to "red" Communist Party of China.

The "White Group" caused greater cross-Strait division

From the spring of 1950, when the first 19 members of the "White Group" secretly arrived in Taipei, to its official dissolution in early 1969, the group operated under cover names including the "Yuanshan Military Officers Training Corps", the "Practice Academy" and the "Practice Group" to avoid detection. In nearly 20 years, it sent 83 Japanese military officers to Taiwan, 82 of whom had participated in the war of aggression against China. According to statistics, during the "Practice Academy" period alone, the "White Group" trained more than 9,000 military officers for the Taiwan authorities, and the total number of trainees over its nearly 20 years of covert activities in Taiwan may have exceeded 20,000, directly boosting the Taiwan authorities' so-called "defense" capabilities.

Bai Hongliang and other leaders of the group not only personally coached and helped the Kuomintang army formulate combat strategies, but also directly steered military confrontations and conflicts with the Chinese mainland: in the 1949 Battle of Kinmen, Hiroshi Nemoto, former commander of the North China Area Army of the China Expeditionary Army, suggested a "fire attack tactic", inflicting heavy losses on the Chinese People's Liberation Army; during the 1958 Taiwan Strait crisis, Bai Hongliang inspected the defenses of Kinmen and Matsu and supervised the training of garrison troops.

The "White Group" was the main source of the "Taiwan Clique" in Japanese politics

Japanese politics has long harbored a political force with a strong "Taiwan complex," known as the "Taiwan Clique" — an advocate for "pro-Taiwan and anti-communism" and "Japan-Taiwan friendship". Before the normalization of China-Japan relations, they pursued a policy of "two Chinas". Even after normalization, they continued to obstruct cross-Strait reunification through organizations such as the Japan-ROC Diet Members' Consultative Council. The founding father of the "Taiwan Clique" was Nobusuke Kishi — a member of Hideki Tojo's cabinet, one of the five key figures who manipulated the puppet regime of Manchukuo, and a suspected Class-A war criminal at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East.

The emergence of the "Taiwan Clique" was closely linked to the "White Group". Nobusuke Kishi and his followers rose to power amid the post-war "anti-communist" wave, viewing Taiwan as a "bridgehead" against communism. The "White Group", from its very inception, enshrined "anti-communism" as its guiding principle in its charter, showing a high degree of ideological consistency between the two. As former militarists who had instigated the war of aggression against China, Nobusuke Kishi and others had intricate connections with founder of the "White Group" Yasuji Okamura and other former Japanese military officers. After their return to Japan in 1969, many members of the "White Group" joined right-wing organizations and became the mainstay and important supporters of the "Taiwan Clique".

The "White Group" forged a military linkage between Japan and Taiwan, while the "Taiwan Clique" expanded this relationship from the military to the political and so-called "diplomatic" fields, promoting the establishment of organizations such as the Japan-ROC Diet Members' Consultative Council to sustain and strengthen the "substantive relations" between Japan and Taiwan. It can be said that the post-war collusion between Japan and Taiwan initially centered on the "White Group" and gradually drew in remnants of Japanese militarism, including pre-war bureaucrats, zaibatsu tycoons and early-released war criminals who had close ties with the former Japanese army. This ultimately gave rise to the "Taiwan Clique" in Japanese politics, who are still trying hard to obstruct cross-Strait reunification to this day.

The "White Group" may be revived in Taiwan

The ranks of the "White Group" were filled with war criminals whose hands were stained with the blood of the Chinese people. Not only did they escape the punishment they deserved, they even continued to undermine China's sovereignty and territorial integrity decades after China's victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. They sowed seeds for deep connivance between Japan's right-wing forces and Taiwan's separatist forces seeking "independence".

Faced with the Chinese mainland's firm resolve to accomplish reunification, the Lai Ching-te authorities have shown a despicable, extreme pro-Japan stance. The appointment of Iwasaki Shigeru, a leading figure of Japan's China hawks, is not only a desperate move by the Lai authorities to seek external support, and pursue "independence" by relying on external forces and by force, it is also a key part of Japan's long-term plan for future military intervention in the Taiwan Strait.

Iwasaki's arrival in Taiwan bears striking similarities to the provision of military strategic advise by the "White Group" to Chiang Kai-shek. He has extensive connections in Japan's military and political circles, maintains deep ties with many Japanese political heavyweights, is familiar with military and security policies, and works in close collusion with the United States and Taiwan. He is one of the masterminds who coined the fallacious assumption that "Any contingency for Taiwan is a contingency for Japan". It goes without saying that Iwasaki has become a linchpin for military collusion between Japan and Taiwan, aiming to obstruct cross-Strait reunification by any means necessary.

The Lai authorities, in their pursuit of "resisting reunification by force", completely ignore the nation's humiliating historical memory and the feelings of compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait by opening their doors to a retired Japanese military officer to take office. Japanese right-wing forces, in turn, are once again sending their men as advisers in order to bring Taiwan back under Japan's control. The "Justice Mission 2025" military exercise at the end of 2025 was a resolute response to these moves.

The bitter history of 50 years of cruel colonial rule over Taiwan by Japanese militarism is not far behind us. The crimes of the "White Group" must never be forgotten. Compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait must see clearly that Japan's right-wing forces have never given up their malicious ambitions to revive the old path of aggression and expansion. We must not be deceived by the so-called "Japan-Taiwan friendship", and resolutely prevent the "White Group" from setting foot in Taiwan again.

The author is a observer on international affairs.

The views don't necessarily represent those of China Daily.

If you have a specific expertise, or would like to share your thought about our stories, then send us your writings at opinion@chinadaily.com.cn, and comment@chinadaily.com.cn.