Taiwan
The Republic of China
My first international stop was Taiwan. I visited Taiwan for about a week and a half, and stopped at a few locations in the eastern coast. I had my first travel experience with a club called Servas, had encounters with the Taiwanese medical system, visited friends, and was able to experience some history and culture from different parts of the island. As such, I have several articles here on different places and experiences in Taiwan. Click on the tiles below to read the articles or see the pictures associated with each.
Taiwan is an interesting place. It functions as an independent country, but for political reasons, it is not represented that way. Taiwan has no vote in the United Nations. Taiwanese athletes are not allowed to compete under their nation’s name or flag at the Olympics. Most nations have no formal diplomatic relationship with Taiwan. Nevertheless, Taiwan issues passports, maintains a military, issues currency, holds elections and functions as a completely autonomous country. They are independent in every way but in name. Only political pressure from China prevents their recognition as a sovereign country.
The People’s Republic of China supports a “one China” policy. Not only do they pressure other nations not to recognize Taiwan on the world stage, they also put continuous economic, military, and social pressure on Taiwan in hopes they will eventually absorb what what they claim as a wayward province. While claiming to support peaceful reunification, China holds military exercises around and over Taiwan to flex its military muscle. They execute cyber attacks on Taiwan. They manipulate trade, and coerce international companies to treat Taiwan as if it were part of China. They issue propaganda highlighting the benefits of reunification. This is all part of a long game that feels very Chinese in nature – the idea that continual pressure over long periods will eventually achieve large goals. For more information on this thought process, read Mao Zedong’s “On Guerrilla Warfare,” which outlines the strategy by which weaker communist forces would eventually overcome the nationalist Republic of China and force them to flee to Taiwan.
So most of the rest of the world continues with the China-authored fiction that Taiwan is not a sovereign nation. The article below briefly discusses how history and politics in modern Taiwan reflect the way Taiwanese people see their country. I offer some comparisons to national identities in other countries. If you’d like to read further about history, politics, and Taiwanese identity, continue to the section below. Otherwise, skip to the bottom and click one of the tiles to read about one the other subjects or destinations within Taiwan.
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Taiwan: History & Identity
Identity has become a loaded term in recent years. The question, “How do you identify?” is now laden with layers of psychology that some believe even transcend reality. Many of us would argue that when it comes to gender identity, a finite reality exists, regardless of what one chooses to believe about oneself. Other matters of identity can be transitory. Am I a farmer? Yes. At least I am for now, though I have not always been. I was once a military officer, but no longer am.
National identities can be even more nebulous. What makes someone French? They come from a certain geographic area. Perhaps they also speak the language, have affinities for certain foods and cultural ties. We might even say someone looks French, or Japanese. But what makes someone French or Japanese? What makes someone American? I always presented the case to my American history students that one uniquely American part of the national identity is that we hold to a certain set of ideals, rather than a common geographic or even cultural relationship. There certainly is an American culture, but it is borrowed from the melting pot of immigrants and the few indigenous Americans who share our national identity.
Generally speaking, as Americans we tend to identify most closely with our colonial ancestors, even though we fought a war of Independence against them. We speak English, after all, use a legal system derived from theirs, and share many values and customs with Britain – more than most of us even realize. So much of our thought process derives from Enlightenment thinking and Protestant Christianity. I have always found it interesting that Mexicans tend to identify not with the Spanish, who bequeathed upon them their language and legal system, but rather their indigenous ancestors. They tend to see Spain as an invading conqueror. Perhaps the most maligned character in all of Mexican history is the notorious Malinche, who is said to have been Hernan Cortez’s interpreter as well as concubine. She is hated for “selling out” indigenous Mexicans to their Spanish conquistadors. There is more than a little irony in this, since nearly all Mexicans are mestizos, with split Spanish and Native American genetic ancestors.
I have always thought of Taiwan as “the good China.” China was involved in a great war with Japan for many years prior to U.S. involvement in World War II. This was the catalyst for American entry into that war. Japan became bogged down in that conflict, and the resource starved island chain needed to pick off loosely held European colonies in Southeast Asia to gain better access to rubber, oil, and the other essentials for powering their own war machine. The colonizers, after all, had either been inundated by the Nazis, or had their hands full holding them off. The military junta ruling Japan knew if they snagged Indochina and the Dutch islands while the European colonizers were being occupied, the United States would likely be pulled into the war. Feeling they had no choice but to capture the resources, they decided to preemptively cripple the U.S. Pacific fleet, erroneously hoping that American resolve would wane before Japan’s military strength gave out. This led to a strong alliance between the United States and the Republic of China.
The Republic of China may have had a huge population and land area, but it was no political or military powerhouse. The Republic of China had only thrown of dynastic rule in 1911 and was dealing with an internal wrestling match against communists at the same time they were trying to hold off the invading Japanese. In the immediate aftermath of World War II, the Republic of China lost that battle and the Chinese nationalists, led by Chiang Kai-Shek escaped to the island of Formosa (known to us today as Taiwan) in hopes that one day they would reconquer the mainland and continue as one China. For a while, there was a battle between the communists and the nationalists over who would represent China on the world stage, in the United Nations, etc. The Republic of China lost that battle to the People’s Republic of China. The Republic of China (the official name of Taiwan) has diplomatically limped along without full recognition among world powers for decades. Many of us who know that story, or grew up during the Cold War, then, know Taiwan as “the good China.”
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People in Taiwan speak Mandarin. To the extent that any are religious, they have Buddhist, Confucian, and Chinese folk religion temples. Many of the cultural values feel Chinese, and most have Han ancestors. Interestingly, though, many people in Taiwan do not see Taiwan as “the Republic of China” at all, but rather a distinct, unique place of its own, identifying as Mexicans do with the indigenous population. I suppose this is more understandable for Taiwan. Taiwan was initially occupied by indigenous peoples, who controlled the island until the arrival of the Dutch in the 17th century. The Dutch were challenged by Spanish adventurers, who were eventually repelled. Chinese merchants and pirates visited and occupied parts of Taiwan over the years, but the Manchurian defeat of the Chinese Ming dynasty sent waves of refugees to Taiwan, who ultimately wrested control of the island from the Dutch. The island was under Chinese dominion for quite a while after this, reverting to Qing control as that Chinese dynasty consolidated power. The first Sino-Japanese war at the end of the 19th century sent control to Japan, who of course lost it as the end of World War II. Only then did the question of which was the “real China” impact Taiwan.
For many years Chiang Kai-Shek’s Kuomintang dominated Taiwan’s political scene and dictated the historical narrative taught in schools. As such, from the 1950s until relatively recently, Taiwan’s story was always presented as the China’s last bastion of freedom and democracy. Because Chiang’s Kuomintang did not always live up to those ideals – often suppressing free speech and tampering with the criminal justice system – many Taiwanese residents do not look on Chiang the same way Cold Warriors from the West would. His legacy is mixed, and these days many in Taiwan see the KMT as the party most aligned with China, rather than as a Chinese answer to communism. Most don’t see themselves as Chinese in the first place, so who “the real China” is, is not even a relevant question. To them, Taiwan is just Taiwan, not the home of the exiled Republic of China.
Stacy’s father, Alex Wang, tipped me off to this element of the Taiwan identity. I was surprised, however, to see how strongly that same position was stated at the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial. The associated museum offered a very balanced approach to the generalissimo’s legacy, presenting criticisms of his actions fairly and thoroughly. I visited this mammoth monument on my third full day in Taiwan, and some of those photos are shown on this page. As in America, there are diverse opinions on national identity within Taiwan. There is not a consensus as to how Chinese Taiwan is or should be. Members of the three families I associated most closely with during my stay all held significantly different positions on the subject. Also as in America, those positions were often tied closely to modern political beliefs. The KMT was Chiang Kai-Shek’s political party. They are seen as most closely tied to China, though communism is often ignored by modern KMT members. So today’s KMT members seem to embrace Taiwan’s cultural ties to China and criticize revisionist attempts to write China out of Taiwan’s history. The DPP is currently in power, and prefers a less Chinese version of the Taiwan story. So for the Taiwanese people I met, their view of Taiwan’s identity had a lot to do with their modern political affiliations. Once again, as in America, supporters of both major parties often see the other side as corrupt and morally bankrupt.
This step toward a better understanding of Taiwan’s identity is one of the most important things I learned during my visit. That is, after all, a major reason I travel – to get to know the people and places I visit. Understanding what makes Taiwan, Taiwan was a fundamental goal. Hopefully I walked away knowing it a little better. As with nearly every historical topic, the reality is far more complex than what is visible on the surface. I am sure there is a lot more to learn, but at least I now know that Taiwan is a place a lot more complex and interesting than simply, “the good China.”
