On this day in 1863, Henry Ford, American car manufacturer who founded the Ford Motor Company, was born.
On this day in 1949, the HMS Amethyst, a British warship, made its escape down the Yangtze River after being refused safe passage by Chinese communists after a three-month standoff.
On this day in 1994, Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation and Mainland China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait began talks in Taipei. This was the first high-level dialogue between the two organizations since the Qiandao Lake Incident on March 31, 1994.
On this day in 2001, the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) reshuffled its leadership through the election of 31 Central Standing Committee members, increasing the presence of lawmakers while the number of government officials declined.