Taiwan - Independent or a Part of China?

Is Taiwan an independent country or is it a part of China? This controversy that has been debated for decades questions whether or not Taiwan should be an internationally recognized country. The conflict resides in the fact that the Republic of China (ROC) government of Taiwan sees Taiwan as an independent country with full sovereignty, whereas Mainland China sees Taiwan as a part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and does not officially recognize the ROC that the PRC defeated years ago. The ROC is branched into two major parties, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

The areas of knowledge focuses mostly on history, and the ways of knowing uses reason and logic to interpret history, as subjective as that may be. In 1895, the Qing dynasty relinquished their rights over Taiwan when it lost to Japan in the First Sino-Japanese War, in which Taiwan subsequently became a Japanese colony until the end of WWII in 1945. In 1911, the Xinhai Revolution took place in which the nationalists lead by Sun Yet Sun overthrew the Qing Dynasty, establishing the KMT ROC. In 1927, the Chinese Civil war took place between the PRC communists and the KMT nationalists. The war was consecutive and was interfered by Japan’s invasion of China in 1937. After Japan was defeated in 1945, the civil war resumed and ended in the defeat of the KMT in 1949, in which Chiang Kai Shek fled to Taiwan with his supporters.

Both the PRC and the ROC believe in the One China Policy, which rests on the idea that there is only one China (Mainland+Taiwan), however, each of them believes itself to be the legitimate government. The PRC of China believes in the One China Principle – Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. The notion is that since Japan’s defeat in 1945, Taiwan had been restored to the ROC that overthrew the Qing dynasty, and because PRC defeated the ROC in 1949 and Japan did not sign the San Francisco Peace Treaty officially relinquishing its rights over Taiwan until 1952, Taiwan belongs to the PRC. As Yu Shuning, Spokesman of the Chinese Embassy in the United States of America, states, “…. What was also true is that in 1949, that Republic of China which had been ruled by a corrupt and despotic Kuomintang regime for 28 years was overthrown in another popular revolution…since then, China has been represented in the world by the People's Republic of China with its national government in Beijing, and the "Republic of China" has since become defunct…”

Although the KMT also believe that China and Taiwan share the same national entity, it also believes that the Taiwan, the ROC, is an independent country. The KMT argues that the ROC is the founder of “China” itself, and it was the ROC that had lost its Mainland Chinese land; hence, China is/should officially be a part of Taiwan. Although former KMT President Hui amended the ROC constitution in 1991 so that it only applied effectively to the Taiwan Area, current KMT ROC President Ma has re-asserted claims on PRC mainland China territories as recent as late 2008. The notion is that since Japan’s defeat in 1945, Taiwan was put under the administrative rule of the ROC of China. Despite the CPC overthrowing the ROC, the ROC did not vanish; the ROC exists, and it exists in Taiwan, with more than twenty-three million ROC citizens as living proof. Furthermore, the Cairo Declaration, clause eight of the Potsdam Declaration, was signed in 1943 in the written agreement of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender – “All territories Japan had won from China, such as Manchuria (Dongbei), Formosa (Taiwan), and Pescadores (Penghu), shall be restored to the Republic of China.”

Like the KMT, the DPP also believes that Taiwan is an independent country. However, the DPP believes that Taiwan and China have separate national entities, in which the ROC’s territory consists of Taiwan and its surrounding smaller islands. The party does not believe in the One China Principle and aims to officially break away from China and be internationally recognized as an independent country with full sovereignty. The DPP strongly believes in democracy and its core value of self-determinism. As more and more people see themselves as Taiwanese, the DPP legislator, Yeh, says, “Whether Taiwan should go independent or seek unification with China must be determined by its 23 million people, and the majority's decision must be respected”. According to The China Post, President Ma stressed in the past that he would not discuss unification during his presidential tenure. DPP spokesman Cheng points out that it is self-contradictory for Ma to "not talk about unification but accept a one-China framework." However, Ma explained that Taiwan is already an independent nation, thus there is no reason to engage in a struggle for independence. Another idea that supports the DPP ideology is the irony in how the CPC/PRC uses the same coercion to drive out the ROC in 1949 and to lay claim over Taiwan in the recent years. When did these people have a say and why is it that the world supports oppressive force over self-determinism? Perhaps, a more empathetic approach would be to view America-England relations. For example, America and England share similar roots, but are the English and the Americans are ethnically the same? No, they are not. Taiwan and China also have cultural and political differences from the past (ex. Japanese rule), for they’ve each had or developed new accents, customs, language, schemas, personality, attitude, taste, and way of life (i.e. freedom). There is a new national pride developed amongst the people of Taiwan, hence, the DPP believes in Taiwanese independence and wants to preserve Taiwan’s cultural identity by separating from Mainland China.

I’ve met Taiwanese people whom identify themselves, ethnically, as Chinese (understandably more common amongst the older generation). I’ve also met many Taiwanese people whom remain neutral in their political attitudes towards China-Taiwan relations and are unsure of their ethnicity. Last but not least, I’ve met a considerable number of people whom view themselves as Taiwanese, sprinkled with a few extremists here and there (more common amongst the natives as well as the younger generation). As a Taiwanese, the way I see it is that we ARE the original “China”. Why? The Qing dynasty ended and the KMT governed China until it was forced to relinquish Mainland China due to its defeat against the Communist Party of China (CPC). Hence, personally, I can peacefully accept that Taiwan is the ROC, but not that it is part of the PRC. Technically, the provinces in China should be provinces part of Taiwan, the ROC, and should follow our political and social system. However, Mainland China has much changed since 1949, which is why the DPP won for two elections in a row, showing that from the years 2000 to at least 2004, the majority of us Taiwanese citizens no longer had the desire to restore PRC to the ROC. Arguably, the KMT, lead by Taiwan’s current president, Ma, won the DPP in 2008. However, the reasons behind the defeat of the DPP in the 2008 legislative election were mainly due to our Ex-DPP-President, Chen Shui-Bian’s despicable family scandals in 2006; other important factors include the increase in China-Taiwan hostility (i.e. military threats) as well as the stagnation in Taiwan’s economic growth in the twenty-first century (i.e. tech crisis). The fact is that China’s economic growth was and is rapidly increasing, and given our economic situation, Taiwan cannot turn a blind eye to this conspicuous truth as it is not in our best interest to further hinder cooperation (i.e. business/trade) and provoke war. Hence, until we have the resources and power to defend ourselves and solely depend on other markets outside of China, we should remain peaceful with China and/or find alternative ways to gain our independence. This, however, does not mean unification: as KMT’s leader, President Ma’s “three nos” policy for the next seven years states – no unification, no independence and no use of force. We are, after all, the Republic of China on an island called Taiwan. We should not, however, be a part of the PRC Mainland China as we officially are now.

ROC was the official government of China for a good sixty years. However, Yu Shuning Spokesman of the Chinese Embassy states, “….the status of Taiwan as part of China's territory has never changed…” (If so, then how does one explain the Treaty of Shimonoseki?) “…nor has the Government of the People's Republic China ever given up its jurisdiction over Taiwan”. Hold on, Chairman Mao has never ruled Taiwan, therefore, the PRC does not have the option to give up something that they never had. How is it then, that Taiwan is a part of the PRC? Because the United Nations said so in the UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 of 1971, when it expelled the ROC from the UN and recognized the PRC as the only legitimate reprehensive of China to the UN? Because even the United States, who is so big on democracy and anti-communism, stands on China’s side due to economic self-interest? As President Ma stated at the Taiwan Foreign Correspondents' Club (TFCC) press conference in 2010, "Taiwan is not like Hong Kong. We are an independent country with full sovereignty. Taiwan's future has to be decided by the 23 million Taiwanese." I agree with KMT President Ma’s “three nos” policy, however, I do not support a complete unification with the Mainland Chinese like the conservative KMT does. Similarly, I agree with the DPP’s rightist idea of democracy and self-determinism, however, I don’t support full Taiwanese independence either. Complete unification would mean one official PRC government and a loss of Taiwanese culture and identity (ex. traditional Chinese), unless China would one day be able to see ROC as their official government again (extremely unlikely). Complete official independence is, although ideal, nonetheless unrealistic at this current moment, and would not be auspicious to Taiwan’s economy or national security.

Taiwan has been unable to gain complete independence from China, and the chances of doing so in this generation are slim. However, this issue keeps coming up because of the resentment towards Chinese, especially through direct interaction such as meeting Chinese tourists. Other real-life cases in which a state or province officially wants to establish independence and rid foreign government claims would be the Tibet-Mainland China relations.

Sources:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/fast_track/9610250.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1357066.stm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuomintang

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok8yImBU02A

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/24/world/asia/24iht-taiwan.1.6799766.html

http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/zt/twwt/t36717.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo_Declaration

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2009/06/18/212641/Taiwans-future.htm