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The presidential primary contest of Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) finally came to an end recently, with incumbent president Tsai Ing-wen beating the challenger, her former premier, William Lai. But the “Hot Taiwanese Chick” faction of Tsai supporters led by younger independence advocates, and the more hawkish elders who supporter “Golden Grandson” Lai, seem to grow further apart from each other. 

When Lai-supporting elders alleged at the 11th hour that President Tsai’s PhD degree was forged to discredit her, Tsai supporters were outraged at the viciousness of the smear campaign, especially since this was a contest between “comrades” of the same party. Meanwhile, the elders believed Tsai was fully responsible for the landslide loss the party suffered in the 2018 local elections.  

Coupled with the 2018 losses, the rift between advocates of the same vision of Taiwan statehood has caused independence supporters’ anxiety to boil over. Young independence advocates are now talking about “where have we gone wrong since the Sunflower Movement (of 2014)” to the point where the gains made since the Movement and the 2016 victories have disintegrated in a short few years. Many people say that “young progressives are not empathetic enough,” or “old green men don’t get progressive values.” 

But the generational rift we see today may not be so easily explained. I would like to share the story of the older overseas independence activists, to find ways for the activists of this generation to understand them better and perhaps forge strong bridges between the two groups.

Forgotten freedom fighters

The first generation of overseas independence activists included young elite students who came to the US as graduate students. During that time, when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) ruled Taiwan as an authoritarian one-party state, to advocate for Taiwan’s independence and democracy may have been as improbable as advocating for human rights in China today. This may be hard to understand for some young people who aren’t familiar with the history.

At the time, even in democratic America, independence supporters were under threat of being “disappeared,” like Dr. Chen Wen-cheng, or at least put on a blacklist where they couldn’t risk returning home. Even in the face of torture and death, these overseas students organized and rolled up their sleeves to fight for Taiwan’s democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. 

They developed strong ties with members of the US Congress and successfully advocated for the US to pressure the KMT government in Taiwan regarding political prisoners from the Kaohsiung Incident of 1979. These Taiwan advocates also worked with the “Gang of Four” in the US Senate: Ted Kennedy, Claiborne Pell, Jim Leach and Stephen Solarz, to raise the issue of Taiwan’s democracy, and even pushed for the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979. They were a force to be reckoned with, and were a pain for the KMT government and its US representatives. 

In a 2010 report in the Congressional Research Service, expert Shirley Kan chronicled these events, detailing the work done by overseas organizations like the World United Formosans for Independence (WUFI) and the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA). 

These overseas Taiwanese groups, which are well known even to the US government, are hardly mentioned in history textbooks in Taiwan. It’s not until the Taiwan Travel Act was passed in 2017 that today’s young people start noticing these forgotten Taiwanese in North America and their contribution to Taiwan. 

Principled but silenced 

As a group of people who were fighting against the establishment, and then promptly forgotten and ignored even after Taiwan became a democracy, they are not a target audience most people in Taiwan bother to connect with. After all, they live thousands of miles away, and are not a significant voting bloc. 

This hasn’t dampened their resolve to contribute to Taiwan’s statehood, however. Through every small group meeting they grew a vast network of grassroots activists, generously donated the wealth they accumulated despite enduring the hardships of immigrants, and built Taiwan Centers all over the US. They challenged the cultural dominance of Greater Chinese overseas groups who were well funded by the KMT, and constructed a Taiwanese American cultural and political identity, one person and one family at a time. 

Even the impressive US-Taiwan ties the Tsai Administration forged rest on the foundation that these first-generation Taiwanese-American activists built over a long period of time. 

Certainly, after seeing how overseas Taiwanese-Americans poured out their support during the Sunflower Movement, there have been young mainstream politicians and activists trying to build relationships. But just a handful of meetings over a few years isn’t enough to communicate what’s really happening in Taiwan to people overseas. Put cynically, with such a wealthy group of non-voters, with more passion than voters in Taiwan, Taiwan-based politicians often see overseas Taiwanese supporters as merely a tool for rallying and an ATM for fundraising. Otherwise, they can be easily ignored given how far away they are from the action.  

What’s worse, these people who gave much of their energy and wealth to Taiwan but are often ignored, are sometimes ridiculed as “people living the good life abroad but who love to talk trash about stuff in Taiwan.” Without actual votes in Taiwan, there aren’t too many people willing to speak up for them.  

And whether intended or not, sometimes people from Taiwan talk only about current issues that are convenient for their own short-term political interests. Over a brief meeting, there isn’t much time or energy, or the desire, to truly communicate to overseas Taiwanese about long term challenges and visions. There aren’t many Taiwan activists who are willing to sit down with overseas Taiwanese, to understand their feelings of being ignored, and to work on issues they care about but that have gone out of favor in mainstream political discourse in Taiwan (such as former president Chen Shui-bian’s legal case). 

No wonder these two groups of people, the overseas Taiwanese and the Taiwanese youth, despite having the same vision for Taiwan, are on different wavelengths. The “Taiwan Civil Government,” a certified scam [promising Taiwan independence while asking for donations], still has supporters in the US. This shows how wide the difference in information and understanding between the two groups are. 

Worse, the more elderly of the overseas independence supporters still see the independence movement as an underground, illicit activity that can be cracked down. As a result, they give without asking for accountability nor do they ask for a return. This could be taken advantage of by scammers, but could also result in them feeling “why aren’t there any results if I risk my life for this” or “someone must have screwed up.” It’s a convoluted mix of personal and political responsibilities and emotions. Hence, the “truth” they see through the lens of their life experiences and emotions are very different from that of young independence supporters in Taiwan. 

Accountability the key to healthy relationships 

Even if Tsai and Lai supporters within the DPP cannot regain trust in each other in the short run, I still hope for different generations of Taiwanese people, whether in Taiwan or overseas, to stand together in this critical moment for the movement. Perhaps we should drop the “old green men” and “progressive youth” labels already. Perhaps we should also stop using seniority or “who owes whom” as excuses to avoid reflection and debate. 

We the young generation should spend some time to empathize with the overseas Taiwan independence activists’ life stories (perhaps starting by building an oral history). Older generations should understand that today’s statehood movement and democratic politics are not the zero-sum games they were in the past, and Taiwan Independence is no longer a dangerous underground movement. Different generations need to work together, and start with accountability and procedural ethics within our advocacy efforts, including clarity in finances and information flows.

The vision we have of a new politics and statehood for Taiwan shouldn’t be limited to fancy graphic designs, or empty slogans. We shouldn’t sacrifice the energy and intellect of our people just to mobilize for short term gains. Understanding each other’s life stories, having healthier conversations, and to be honest about our difficulties and priorities, is perhaps the first step to breaking the ice. 

(Feature photo of FAPA founder Dr. Troung Tsai and Senator Ted Kenny, from FAPA’s Facebook Page)