“I’m proud to say I’m Taiwanese and I live in a free country,” said Taiwanese Deputy Foreign Minister François Chih-Chung at a recent meeting with the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, a non-profit, non-partisan organization based in Taipei charged with promoting democracy worldwide.
That combination — a sense of Taiwanese identity and pride in being one of Asia’s most vibrant and viable democracies — is precisely what China is aiming to erase and replace with its “One China” policy, Beijing’s hard-line stance that it is the only China the world should recognize.
Beijing has long regarded Taiwan as a renegade province that it will eventually through diplomacy or force bring back into its sovereign fold. With its rising clout and influence, China is now pressing nations, corporations and organizations to either stop dealing with Taiwan as a state or face economic consequences.
While some multinationals have bowed to the pressure, the intimidation campaign seems to be having the opposite effect in Taiwan itself, where surveys show rising popular resistance to so-called “reunification” and a strongly emerging national identity as Taiwanese rather than Chinese, especially among a younger generation.
Taiwan, the island where China’s previous ruling regime sought refuge after being defeated by Mao Zedong’s communists back in 1949, is still officially known as the Republic of China.
But Taiwan is no longer governed by the old Kuomintang, which also claims China is one inseparable country but that it rather than the communists are its rightful rulers. Rather, the Democratic People’s Party (DPP), which advocates for independence from China and promotes a separate Taiwanese identity, is in democratic charge.
Since the DPP won the 2016 election, China’s efforts to isolate Taiwan have been the most intense in decades. Beijing has also ramped up provocative military drills, raising concerns that China may yet opt for reunification by force rather than through gradual diplomacy and economic integration.
Indeed, China is ramping up pressure on foreign businesses in unprecedented fashion. In April, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) sent a letter to 44 airlines asking them to stop describing Taiwan as a country and instead refer to it as a province of China.
In a strongly worded statement ten days later, America’s White House dismissed the request as “Orwellian nonsense”, adding that President Donald Trump “will stand up for American resisting efforts by the Chinese Communist Party to impose Chinese political correctness on American companies and citizens.”
Some of those global airlines have since shifted to refer to “Taiwan, China.” As of late May, the CAAC said that 18 global airlines had complied with the request and that “the remaining carriers had requested extensions of up to two months due to technical reasons.”
Other foreign companies with big business interests in China have also complied with Beijing’s anti-Taiwan directives and stopped treating the island state as a separate political entity.
On May 14, for example, the US clothing retailer Gap posted on China’s Weibo microblogging website an apology for having sold T-shirts overseas with “an erroneous design map of China” that failed to include Taiwan as part of its territory.
China is also pressing to win over the dwindling number of countries that maintain full diplomatic relations with Taiwan. That number was 23 a decade ago but is now down to 18 after the Dominican Republic and Burkina Faso broke off relations with Taipei and instead recognized Beijing in May.
Those who still recognize Taiwan include six island nations in the Pacific Ocean, Swaziland (now known as Eswatini) in Africa, ten countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Vatican in Europe.
But while China’s campaign to isolate Taiwan is working with certain countries, carriers and corporations, it is also contributing to what was already a rising tide of Taiwanese nationalism.
The island was ruled continuously by the Kuomintang from 1949 until 2000, when the DPP formed its first government. While retaining the name the Republic of China, the DPP also used Taiwan. In 2007, the DPP called for a new constitution for “a normal country” that aimed to make Taiwan a state separated from China.
That did not happen because the Kuomintang was elected back to power via a democratic election the following year. The new president, Ma Ying-jeou, then initiated more contacts with the mainland and reaffirmed his party’s commitment to the “One China” policy.
But it was under Ma’s administration that Taiwanese identity began to flourish, perhaps precisely because of his pro-Beijing stance. A survey by Taiwan’s Election and Democratization Study (TEDS), a research project supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, showed that 37% of citizens identified as “Taiwanese” in 2001, but that by 2015 that figure had soared to 64%.
In a 2016 survey conducted by the National Academy of Taiwan, 75% of respondents said they would never want to be unified with China, even if the mainland caught up with Taiwan’s higher level of economic and political development.
In another TEDS survey conducted the same year, 50% said they preferred “total independence”, while 34% were in favor of a “mid-way solution” which would maintain the status quo of neither unifying with the mainland or declaring independence.
Only 17% of the same survey’s respondents said they wanted to be part of China under the “one country, two systems” model now employed in former European colonies Hong Kong and Macau. The number of pro-independence respondents was even higher among youth, with 55.4% of the 18-34 age group favoring independence from China.
Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, may be 62 but she was born on the island and appeals strongly to this increasingly nationalistic youth set. She is also the first Asian head of state or government who is a woman but not a widow, daughter or sister of a former male politician.
She is also a product of the dramatic democratization Taiwan has undergone over the past two decades, a shift from hard-knuckled authoritarian rule under the Kuomintang to a model Asian democracy and exemplary economic development story as one of the world’s top 20 trading nations.
Even the Kuomintang, despite its “One China” policy and previous authoritarian ways, has transformed into a democratically “normal” political party that contests, loses and wins general elections.
So why do so many Taiwanese not feel a motherland affinity towards the mainland? A fragmented history is one reason.
Taiwan was under Chinese emperor rule until the Qing dynasty ceded the island to Japan in 1895 after a brief war between the two countries. It was only after Japan’s defeat in World War II that the island was reunited with China.
Shortly thereafter, in 1949, the mainland was overrun by Mao’s communists and Taiwan was all that remained of the Republic of China under the Kuomintang. From that reading of history, Taiwan has been ruled from the mainland for only four years since 1895.
From 1949 until democratization began in the late 1980s, a minority of Mandarin speakers from the mainland dominated politics at the expense of Taiwanese who speak a dialect similar to the one spoken in China’s Fujian province. There are currently 23 million people living in Taiwan, including around half a million who belong to Aboriginal tribes.
So it is not only because Taiwan is a democracy and China is not that Taiwanese people feel they are different from the mainland. Many of them see no more reason to be united with the mainland than an Irishman would be for his country to rejoin the United Kingdom, from which it separated in 1921.
But Beijing remains undeterred and has ramped up threats of reunification by force as its military might grows. In 2005, it enacted an Anti-Secession Law which provides a legal basis for China to use “non-peaceful means and other necessary measures” to unify Taiwan with the mainland.
China increased its annual defense budget by 8.1% this year, consistent with President Xi Jinping’s military modernization campaign that aims to transform the People’s Liberation Army into a “world-class” force by 2050. A prime target of that growing force projection capability is nearby Taiwan.
Of course, it remains to be seen whether China will invade Taiwan or be content with isolating it from the wider world to break down Taipei’s resistance to what Beijing views as “reunification.” But if recent public surveys are an accurate measure, most on the island – like François Chih-Chung – are proud to be Taiwanese.
Dwayne Hardin, The USA has the largest incarceration population in the world. The Patriot Act allows people to be detained without warrant and charge forever; militarized US police shoot first ask later with immunity; FBI, NSA, CIA and other security agencies monitor and listen every American 24/7; US law enforcers break peaceful demonstrations with violence and caused tens of people dead and hundreds injured; …; and you said the US governments have not taken away American human rights? To what state will you say your government has violate human right? Sending every American to Guantanamo Bay for an interview by the interrogation contractors is the time for you to say the US federal government has violated human rights?
Richard Truong with the huge gender imbalance due to selective abortions in the mainland, a lot of Chinese men are going need to either hop to other side of the fence or live very lonely lives.
Joe Wong I have no doubt Texas would leave the USA if the federal government tried to take away our human rights, same reason Taiwan left Communist China. I’m glad to see we agree on something!
Joe Wong, babbling lunatic or just bad at English?
Nicolas Datiche well said.
Xinnie Bear
You are still living in your dream, my friend. What do you think about the US caring about Taiwan? For Americans, it’s just another chink.
Bertil Lintner is lying here by not using the more recent polls of 2018 where every one of them shown increased affinity towards reunification on equal term ratger than antagonism that bring them nowhere. DPP fumbled this time just like the previous corrupt DPP Chen Sui Bian administration.
1. Those Taiwan independence fighters are waving the flag of China — the Republic of China.
No the Taiwan Independence waves Taiwan flag, please research.
2. When they speak Taiwanese, people are speaking basically the same language as people on the mainland side of the Taiwan Strait do, Southern Fukienese Chinese. And Taiwan’s official language is Mandarin Chinese.
No really they speak a language looks like, but with modification from different migration wave during centuries, please check for fact
3. Taiwan was ruled by the Qing Dynasty government of China from the late 1600s until Japan defeated China in a war in the late 1800s and took Taiwan as part of its spoils.
Same not really ruled by Qing, in this time nobody care about Taiwan even Qing dynasty, that why Taiwan was given so easly to Japan.
4. People in Taiwan have been heavily propagandized against mainland China for over a hundred years, first by their Japanese occupiers, then by the anti-Communist Nationalist government, backed by the anti-Communist USA.
Yes and No, Japanese occupation didn’t focus on China on this time, until at the end when Nationalist fight against Imperial army. About US, you are wrong, people are not against communist, they are against China, that why a large base of pro taiwan movement are young people under 25…
5. Do not mistake the opinions of independence supporters for those of all people living on the Precious Island. Opinions there are many and complex.
No opinion is really simple, "we are not Chinese"
6. It is legitimate for some people in Taiwan to prefer independence to what they understand of China, but they are still definitely Chinese, by history, genetics and culture. That and the overwhelming presence of a resurgent China so close-by will eventually lead to a reconciliation.
This is a stupid point, if we follow what you say in Europe everybody as to be Italian because History, culture and other bs.
7. Yes, it is possible that Taiwan could vote for independence. But would that really be in the best long-term interests of Taiwan, East Asia, and the world? Or would it just lead to economic and political instability?
Taiwan is the 20th biggest economy, de facto already independent, with a clean democracy, a money and central bank. The only fact is the "official country" name is blocking the internationla processus and this is because the thug of KMT in the pass when "one china policy" was on the table.
But for you, one more thing. Your government can continue to bully Taiwan, you can "scream Taiwan is China" but remember more you and you gvt do that, more we will support Taiwan and Taiwanese, more we will stand up against you guys… And more you will be hated outside your lovely "mainland".
Joe Wong My god you are so dumb about history… There is no DPP white terror, just Chinese did it.
Joe Wong Ah ah ah your so fun… Spend time on your fake internet to try to find your stupid clue that Taiwanese expect an anexion from China… Just go to Taiwan you will see, how this democracy work well, how is the freedom there. And please start to learn history, Taiwan was never run by CCP so "reunifaction" is just a lie for chinese citizen to hid the shit on the country.
Both Lintner and Asia Times should know that Taiwan’s governing party is the Democratic Progressive Party, not the Democratic People’s Party.
Sean Cavo Dinsmore
There are no doubt many decent whites. But the most evil ones throughout history happened to be whites in majority. Sorry, you are not defendable.
I would add that no matter what the island independence leaning nuts think, the only wish of the gay army on the island is to get a good fuk by the PLA one of these days.
Dwayne Hardin, no Taiwanese wants independence, other than those mentally colonized Japanese wannabe like DPP members, in fact they are the decedents of the imperial Japanese war criminals who want to fulfill their dream of becoming a Japanese using Taiwan as admission ticket.
Stop defending your war criminal government, the Texans should raise arms like their Confederacy forebears to overthrow the warmonger and barbaric government in the Washington, get out of the USA and reestablish the true freedom lover the Confederacy.
Joe Wong Hope you enjoyed expressing your opinion here on FB critical of our governments. You would be on your way to prison right now for doing what you just did in Communist China. Does this give you a clue as to why Taiwan wants to stay free?
Sean Cavo Dinsmore, the White is ‘God-fearing’ morally defunct evil ‘inquisitors’.
Raymond Liu, you are a liar. Non of the Taiwanese internet channels talk about independence, all of them talk about the incompetence, corruption, nepotism, white horror the DPP is. Taiwanese are dead against DPP government putting Taiwanese on the line as cannon fodder for the American and Japanese in their reckless imperial conquest. In fact you, DPP, are Taiwanese traitor.
Xinnie Bear, are you saying you are a CCP member with a deep PLA connection? Well, CIA needs to invite you to the Guantanamo Bay for a interview by their investigation contractors.
There are plenty of people want to be part of this historical moment, it is matter of whether one is lucky enough to be there. It is an honor that can be written in the family history.
Anyhow, in the front line of the PLA is a safe job, because Taiwanese soldiers will not fight, no DPP member is in the front line of the Taiwan forces, DPP is unscrupulous cowards, they want somebody else to fight for them. But the US Special Ops in Taiwan will shoot; Chinese should parade them and public try them as war criminals after capturing them.
Passengers who travel to ‘China-Taiwan’ should obtain their ‘travel visa’ from the legitimate embassies or consulates (People’s Republic of China). Otherwise they are violating Chinese sovereignty.
Les passagers qui se rendent à «Chine-Taiwan» doivent obtenir leur «visa de voyage» auprès des ambassades ou des consulats légitimes (République populaire de Chine). Sinon, ils violent la souveraineté chinoise.
Los pasajeros que viajan a "China-Taiwán" deben obtener su "visa de viaje" de las embajadas o consulados legítimos (República Popular de China). De lo contrario, están violando la soberanía china.
I passeggeri che viaggiano in "Cina-Taiwan" dovrebbero ottenere il loro "visto di viaggio" dalle ambasciate o dai consolati legittimi (Repubblica popolare cinese). Altrimenti stanno violando la sovranità cinese.
Passagiere, die nach China-Taiwan reisen, sollten ihr "Reise Visum" von den legitimen Botschaften oder Konsulaten (Volksrepublik China) erhalten. Sonst verletzen sie die chinesische Souveränität.
Matkustajat, jotka matkustavat "Kiina-Taiwan", saavat saada viza laillisista suurlähetystöistä tai konsulaateista (Kiinan kansantasavalta). Muuten he rikkoo Kiinan suvereniteettia.
Passagerare som reser till "Kina-Taiwan" bör få sin "resevisum" från de legitima ambassaderna eller konsulaten (Folkrepubliken Kina). Annars bryter de mot den kinesiska suveräniteten.
Pasażerowie podróżujący do "Chin-Tajwanu" powinni otrzymać "wizę podróżną" od legalnych ambasad lub konsulatów (Chińska Republika Ludowa). W przeciwnym razie łamią chińską suwerenność.
Çin-Tayvan’a giden yolcular’ seyahat vizelerini ‘meşru elçiliklerden veya konsolosluklardan (Çin Halk Cumhuriyeti) almalıdırlar. Aksi halde Çin egemenliğini ihlal ediyorlar.
Пассажиры, отправляющиеся в «Китай-Тайвань», должны получить свою «туристическую визу» из законных посольств или консульств (Китайская Народная Республика). В противном случае они нарушают суверенитет Китая.
‘Хятад-Тайван’ руу зорчигчдыг хууль ёсны элчин сайдын яам буюу консулын газруудаас "аялалын виз" авах ёстой. Үгүй бол тэд Хятадын тусгаар тогтнолыг зөрчиж байна.
ينبغي على المسافرين الذين يسافرون إلى "تايوان ، الصين" الحصول على "تأشيرة سفر" من السفارات أو القنصليات الشرعية (جمهورية الصين الشعبية). وإلا فإنهم ينتهكون السيادة الصينية.
נוסעים הנוסעים ל’טייוואן, סין ‘צריכים לקבל את’ אשרת הנסיעה ‘שלהם מהשגרירויות או הקונסוליות החוקיות (הרפובליקה העממית של סין). אחרת הם מפרים את הריבונות הסינית.
Penumpang sing lelungan menyang ‘China-Taiwan’ kudu entuk ‘visa travel’ saka kedutaan utawa konsulat sing sah (Republik Rakyat China). Yen ora, dheweke nglanggar kedaulatan Cina.
Penumpang yang pergi ke ‘China-Taiwan’ perlu mendapatkan ‘visa perjalanan’ mereka dari kedutaan atau konsulat yang sah (Republik Rakyat China). Jika tidak, mereka melanggar kedaulatan China.
ผู้โดยสารที่เดินทางไปยังประเทศจีน – ไต้หวันควรได้รับวีซ่าท่องเที่ยวจากสถานทูตหรือสถานกงสุลที่ถูกต้องตามกฎหมาย (สาธารณรัฐประชาชนจีน) มิฉะนั้นพวกเขาจะละเมิดอธิปไตยของจีน
Ang mga pasahero na naglalakbay sa ‘China-Taiwan’ ay dapat kumuha ng kanilang ‘travel visa’ mula sa mga lehitimong embahada o konsulado (Republika ng Tsina). Kung hindi, nilalabag nila ang soberanya ng Intsik.
「中国 – 台湾」を旅する乗客は、正式な大使館または領事館（中華人民共和国）から「旅行ビザ」を取得する必要があります。 さもなければ彼らは中国の主権に違反している。
‘중국 – 대만’을 여행하는 승객은 합법적 인 대사관이나 영사관 (중화 인민 공화국)에서 ‘여행 비자’를 받아야합니다. 그렇지 않으면 그들은 중국 주권을 위반하고있다.
the bankster controlled us navy shipped over 2 million chinese gangsters on the island formosa between 1945-49 to create the sino colonial mafia regime that exists today.