Ask This Taiwanese: “Why Care If Taiwan Is Independent?”

Ask “This” Taiwanese is an advice column dedicated to pesky and uncomfortable questions about Taiwan or about being Taiwanese. Our perspectives are a blend of Taiwanese and American. Our belief is in democratic values.  Our motto is “We see you. We hear you. We will speak up”. We will go where no one is willing to go out loud – come with us!  This should be fun!

Send us your questions in the form here: https://forms.gle/t4ddFbfqWKoRstn2A

***

Dear Ask “This” Taiwanese: 

The other day my American friend who pays a lot of attention to world news asked me “why do you care so much if Taiwan is independent?”  I wish I knew exactly what to say about this. Any advice?

– Fellow Tongue Tied Taiwanese

Dear Fellow Tongue Tied Taiwanese,

This is possibly one of the most emotion-inducing questions someone could ask any of us, so don’t beat yourself up if you have a hard time finding the right words on the spot.

Nonetheless, it is a very fundamental question, and frankly part of the reason it is hard to answer could be that you feel the answer should be obvious.  If that is where your mind got stuck, then we are with you.  Why wouldn’t anyone want independence?  Why is this even a question as if it matters to only us?

You may be tempted to try this as your first response: a snappy reversal question back to your friend: “why does it matter to you if Americans fought for independence from the British?”.  If your friend argues that they believe that the United States should have remained a part of the British empire and the American revolution never should have happened, then we would advise you to leave the conversation where it started.

However, if your friend is someone who studied their own history and someone who really was interested to hear your perspective as a Taiwanese, this is really a great opportunity for you to learn from each other!

You can talk about the different dimensions to the question of independence.  On the surface, which is most likely from the headlines that spawn this question from your friend, is the question of whether Taiwan remains as an independent nation, or be taken over by China (commonly referred to as “unification”).  Given that the Chinese leadership is brutally destroying whatever democracy is left in Hong Kong, it is hard for Taiwan to believe China’s “One Country Two Systems,” or any deal for that matter,  would work for us.  The bottom line is that Taiwan is a democracy and China is not.  In other words, the answer to your friend’s question is simply “Taiwan is already independent from China, and we’d like to keep it that way.” 

China does try to assert its version of historical claims on Taiwan.  But their claim is just based on their own interpretation of history.  They are hoping the world would ignore all other histories that don’t fit their narrative – forget that Taiwan was first home to Austronesian peoples, forget the Dutch rule over the southwestern region of Taiwan from 1624 to 1668, forget the Spanish control of the north between 1626 to 1642, let’s never mention the Japanese rule that controlled the whole island between 1895 to 1945, nor the Nationalist resistance of the Communists since 1945, and certainly don’t pay attention to the democratic development in Taiwan from 1986 to the present. Taiwanese history thus is made up of people who wanted to have nothing to do with the rule in China and/or are of another tradition altogether.  But twisting the facts is how authoritarians operate, asking everyone to bend their reality to suit theirs, however dubious. We the free-thinking people in the free world have to ask for better.  At this level, the answer to the question is “Taiwan is not as ‘historically part of China’ as you may think, even if that’s what China wants you to think.”

If you are up for a deeper conversation with your friend on the concept of independence, you can tell them more about the internal evolution of what independence means to a Taiwanese.   Politically, the Taiwanese began by advocating for more self-rule under the Japanese and then fighting for self-determination against the Republic of China regime that took over Taiwan after World War II. Since then, the concept of independence has evolved to encompass the desire to remain a free, democratic nation, against China’s aggression.

But no matter how people define “independence,” at the heart of the matter is a desire to affirm the Taiwanese’s right to our identity for ourselves through the establishment, recognition and continued existence of a Taiwanese nation-state. It is about the power and agency to decide one’s identity, as well as to have a political and legal entity as proof and protection of that identity. These rights are supposed to be universal, but the Taiwanese people have always been denied the full extent of these rights. Taiwanese people have had to compromise and be forced to accept a watered-down existence just to survive. It’s a compromise that the Taiwanese people accept on the basis of pragmatism, but over time it erodes the core humanness of the Taiwanese people.

But we think it could also be emotional in a positive sense. Taiwan’s unique situation pushes the Taiwanese to reflect on identity/statehood/values as a society and political common. It’s an opportunity for our generation to debate and shape our own identity, we can define our own shared destiny, in a way that very few other people in the world can. This is a consciousness that has grown more and more distinct, despite being one that is often overlooked in a world that has a tendency to ignore the lesser vein, nonetheless, still a vital part of the beating heart of world history.

Most of all, we get you; this is an emotionally charged topic. So be kind to yourself – if you cannot meet where your friend is at, then you don’t need to! But if your friend is willing to sit through and have this conversation with you, then we quote Casablanca, “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!”

Your friend,
Ask “This” Taiwanese