Matt Bevan

So the guys who won that mainland election in 1948 just stayed in office.

The parliament was a farce.

Only about 20% of its members represent electorates in Taiwan.

And yet despite this clear lack of democracy, if you read Time magazine and the American media, Taiwan was still being described as free China.

The last spark of hope for free China.

and the first line of defense for the United States.

And all the positive press really paid off.

Throughout the 60s and 70s, Americans became a common sight on the streets of Taiwan.

The U.S.

invested billions in the Taiwanese economy, deployed nuclear weapons to the island, and spent significant resources arming and training Chiang Kai-shek's army.

The FBI in America also assisted Chiang's authorities in spying on Taiwanese dissident groups living in the US and Japan.

The Americans weren't always super enthusiastic about supporting Chiang's brutal authoritarian dictatorship.

The CIA considered attempting a coup against him once.

But Chiang died in office in 1975 and was succeeded by his son, who was elected by the strange parliament full of old men representing mainland electorates.

President Chiang Ching-kuo, son of Chiang Kai-shek, assures the people, as usual, that the mainland will be recovered.

Martial law continued.

And yet, from an economic perspective, the results were hard to argue with.

The Taiwanese economy is one of the success stories of Asia.

Taiwan boasts one of the most dynamic economies in the world.

There's a theory that a lot of dictatorships have, that if they make their population wealthy, it will solidify their control over the country.