Spring Break | 春假: Taiwan ｜台灣

Spring break is over and I’m jet-lagged from Taiwan like no other. This feels worst than having a hangover after a series of bad judgment calls. Reasoning? It’s longer lasting. Like as in throughout the week I feel it: in class, at work, while writing this post. You name it. Funny thing is I don’t get this syndrome when I go abroad. I adjust perfectly fine, as if I never took it upon myself to travel for 12 hours on a plane (Ha!). Nevertheless, as my friend stated, “Being jet-lagged is a privilege.”

Anyways, while I was in Taiwan I came across an awkward silent moment, where I really needed to think about how should I be politically and correctly respond to the old aging question: Is Taiwan (台灣) part of China (中國)?  

For many of you guys who don’t know Taiwan is a pseudo-country. Meaning that it functions like an independent country with its own elected democratic government, economic system, monetary currency system and political system. Even though the Chinese (People’s Republic of China--not the other one: Republic of China <--That's Taiwan) government claims it as one of their provinces. And so ... I found myself in a tricky situation. Because moments like these you know people have a preference. You know people will be offended if you say the wrong thing.

It didn’t help that as international relations (IR) major I’m aware that the United States of America doesn’t recognize Taiwan as its own country, although it supports it indirectly. And so there I was! Stuck.

Throughout my IR studies I've always wondered how did China and Taiwan end up in such a peculiar situation. Where you find China claiming to be the rightful owner of Taiwan. And ... meanwhile, Taiwan ain't having none of that. Taiwan has traditionally wanted to reunify with the mainland under their democratic principles. If such an agreement can't be made they've also threatened independence. Is safe to assume those who aren't in either camp in Taiwan are entirely staying out of it until another better solution presents itself as Niou, a scholar argues.

To understand the current polarization we need to go back into history. I sorta discussed this in a previous blog about the history of the development of modern China, but I didn't really go in depth with the tension between the People's Republic of China (PRC-China) and the Republic of China (ROC-Taiwan). After the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912 the ROC emerges and takes control. Later Mao Zedong leader of the PRC is in direct opposition of the ROC. This leads to a brutal war in mainland China for governance. The PRC ended up winning because they received the most support from the country side and in 1945 forced the ROC and everyone else who was against communism to flea to Taiwan (Note: Before the ROC fled to Taiwan it wasn't that important for the mainland). The ROC originally wasn't going to  stay in Taiwan for a very long time, they wanted to go back to China and take it back. But that failed. And so you have the current situation we're in now.

As a result, this Taiwan Strait issue has consumed Chinese foreign diplomacy over the last past decades in the hopes to reunify their rogue island.  But all efforts have been in vain. For more than 70 years Taiwan continues to function autonomous of China (if we consider it part of China). 23 countries have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, which gives it partial legitimacy in the international community. Nevertheless, China is determined to remove this status from Taiwan to reunify the island under one China.

So this situation got me thinking, why does China try so hard to reclaim the island? As mentioned before in my previous post, China is unwilling to loose its territorial integrity because they need to purge themselves from imperialism (Note: Taiwan use to be a former Japanese colony from 1895-1945). Also by letting Taiwan exist as a stand-alone nation it will validate the independence movements in Tibet and Xinjiang. Therefore, China’s foreign affairs need to be strategic on how they go about securing Taiwan.

This means I also need to be strategic what my answer should be. To be culturally sensitive I went with the most common belief in Taiwan: Taiwan is different from mainland China. It's implies that they're not part of China, but sorta, kinda they are China. I suggest from experience that if you travel to mainland China the government teaches Chinese students Taiwan is part of China. So if you're in the mainland just nod your head and agree to this common belief. Even if you personally don't agree with it. But, if you're in Taiwan just say it's different. You won't be committing yourself to anything. The more ambiguous the better.