Cold War Mosque: Islam and Politics in Nationalist Taiwan

Abstract

This article examines the Chinese Nationalists' engagement with postcolonial Muslim states in the early years of the Cold War. It argues that the Nationalists extended support to Chinese Muslims to continue the ethnonationalist policies developed on the Chinese mainland before their retreat to Taiwan. The inclusion of non-Han citizens in their foreign diplomatic outreach was instrumental in projecting their claim to be the rightful government of China. Through outreach and deliberate political gestures like the construction of the Taipei Grand Mosque and the publication of a translation of the Qur'an, the Nationalists intended to reestablish links with Muslim allies and gain the support of Muslims worldwide for their efforts to retake the mainland. Starting with the opening of the mosque, the article uses outreach by the Chinese Muslim Association to postcolonial Muslim states in the 1950s and 1960s to tell a unique story about the Cold War in East Asia. The focus on Muslims recasts these actors as individuals who played an important role in shaping a postwar East Asian future.