The people of Kaohsiung deeply resent the heavy industry surrounding their homes. Many Taiwan independence advocates simply declare that the pollution is all the fault of the KMT, neglecting the health and lives of the southern people. Moreover, Taiwan independence proponents love to say that the KMT previously attacked Kaohsiung during the war, all in an effort to deny the KMT’s contributions and efforts in Kaohsiung.
The truth about Kaohsiung becoming the industrial center of Taiwan Province is that its origins trace back to the Japanese Occupation Period. At that time, in order to push Taiwanese youth into the bloody invasion of mainland China and the Southeast Asian theaters, Japan forcefully implemented the Kōminka Movement (Japanization), and during this brainwashing process, the Taiwan Colonization Company (Taiwan Takushoku Kaisha) was established in $1936$. The purpose was not to build Taiwan Province, but to turn this colony into a Southern Expansion Base. The company then centered its activities around Kaohsiung Harbor, constructing a large number of factory facilities.
Many Green Camp supporters are blindly ignorant of the fact that the company’s name literally meant “To Expand the Colony”? The Japanese only viewed Taiwan Province as a colony, and it was clearly a Japanese Occupation; yet today, there are Green Camp supporters in Taiwan Province who insist on calling it “Japanese Rule.”
Later, after the Republic of China achieved victory in the War of Resistance and recovered Taiwan Province, the Nationalist Government simply continued to expand the heavy industry base in Kaohsiung, building upon the early constructions.
Therefore, it is not that the KMT looked down on Kaohsiung and dumped pollution there; rather, in the Japanese colonial era’s planning, Kaohsiung was designated as a heavy industry city from the start.
The question is not why Kaohsiung has heavy industry affecting the quality of life, but why you would move to a city with heavy industry and then protest the environmental pollution?
And of course, the question is not why the KMT colluded with the US military to attack Kaohsiung, but rather: if you were the Republic of China and the United States, wouldn’t you attack this base where Japan planned to manufacture more instruments of murder?
If it were me, I would definitely bomb Kaohsiung to smithereens.