Yesterday on ChinaTimes, I found a commentary written by Mr. Xu Zhongmao, a history worker and perspicacious commentator. Mr. Xu said it was a misinterpretation that Chiang Kai-shek used to be titled "Generalissimo" by the US and even by the KMT itself. (In the early days, China Post, Taiwans local English newspaper, referred to Chiang as "Generalissimo" or even an abbreviated "Gimo.")Mr. Xu argued that the title is a Spanish word, and the suffix "isimo" means "very, extremely." The word "generalissimo" should have been a neutral one in the first place, but during and after the Spanish Civil War and WWII, the title specifically referred to that Spainish strongman and dictator, Francisco Franco. Therefore, Mr. Xu thought the title was inappropriate for Chiang Kai-shek because it was an utterly wrong analogy.

When Franco seized absolute power in Spain after 1939, Chiang seized everything in wartime Chongqing: chairman of the KMT, commander-in-chief, premier of the Nationalist government (later becoming president when that honorable figurehead Lin Shen died), governor of Sichuan province, principal of the Military Academy, the Central Political Academy, and National Zhongyang University (even the captain of Chinese Boy Scouts?). Wasnt he a strongman or a dictator back then, even if it was for a weak China in grave danger of resisting imperialist Japan?

I dont feel like using that seemingly funny appellation to address Chiang (especially using that abbreviated one), but I think the analogy between Chiang and Franco is basically plausible. They are contemporaries (both of them died in 1975), they are dictators, and I guess they are good friends with each other, too. You know, in those days when the ROC was representing China in the UN, the Ambassador of Spain was always the captain of foreign envoys stationed in Taipei. The issue was that when the US first used that appellation to address Chiang, the department of foreign affairs should have immediately corrected it if the ROC thought it was not a proper title for Chiang. Well, I guess now it doesnt matter any more, does it?

P.S. Nevertheless, Franco did keep his word that when he died, the Royal Family of Spain should be restored. Now Spain is a constitutional monarchy, and I guess people in Spain would somewhat remember him for his ironfisted ruling.