daphne bramham: taiwan's identity is both blessing and curse as war looms with china
as war with china looms, taiwan's assertion of its democratic values and unique identity angers china as much as it may attract allies.
5 minute read
people take part in an annual civilian defence drill outside taipei city hall earlier this month, which this year focuses on the response from various agencies and volunteer groups if under attack by china.
ann wang
/
reuters
taipei, taiwan — a blue neon sign on the main floor of the presidential office building proclaims power to the people.
it’s the title of a john lennon song about revolution and the theme of a permanent exhibition described as “simultaneously an internal promise and an external declaration.”
“the people are the masters of this island,” says the information card next to the sign. “they will continue to infuse boundless youthful vitality into this country.”
these are bold statements, especially now as chinese jet fighters almost daily breech taiwan’s airspace and leaders in the people’s republic of china threaten an invasion.
when you live in the shadow of a superpower with similar cultural, ethnic and linguistic roots as well as close economic, social and familial bonds, asserting a separate identity can be a national obsession. just ask canadians.
but in taiwan, it’s an urgent, existential imperative.
a pariah state recognized as a country by only 13 small nations, taiwan needs to distinguish itself from its big and bullying neighbour that views it as a “renegade state” and talks about reunification by force if necessary.
democracy is the obvious difference. but it’s more than that.
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since martial law was lifted in 1987, taiwan has become wealthy and progressive. it was the first in asia to legalize same-sex marriage and, this past week, to allow same-sex couples to adopt children.
as china intensified efforts to quell protests and dissent and subjugate ethnic and religious minorities during the past four decades, taiwanese civil society has flourished.
in 2012-13, the anti-media monopoly movement successfully prevented mainland chinese majority ownership. in 2014, the sunflower occupy movement forced postponement of a cross-straits trade agreement that would have increased taiwan’s reliance on china as a trade partner.
the movement has been described as “the outbreak of civic nationalism” that led to the election of the democratic progressive party, a nationalist party that insists that unification will not be dictated by china or forced on taiwan. it has held power since 2016.
mural-sized photos in the power to the people exhibition show young people with headbands at street protests and occupying the legislative yuan. soundscapes let you hear what are described as “diverse and irrepressible voices” of change.
seventy-five years after chiang kai-shek and his kuomintang government fled from mao zedong’s advancing army, few taiwanese are not island-born. many trace their roots back to hakka and fujian migrations in the 1800s, while the 16 malayo-polynesian indigenous groups trace their presence back centuries.
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time, the pandemic, increased import sanctions and a heightened fear of invasion have all weakened connections to the people’s republic of china.
more than 95 per cent now define themselves as taiwanese, rather than chinese.
only 18 per cent of respondents had travelled to china in the previous five years to visit family, work or study, according to a march study done for the government’s mainland affairs council. in the coming three years, only 16 per cent planned a visit.
among the misconceptions is that taiwanese and chinese share the same language. they do — sort of. mandarin is the official language of both countries. it is used in government and taught in schools.
but when it comes to written language, the taiwanese people — like hong kongers — use traditional characters, while mainlanders use simplified ones.
mandarin was imposed on islanders by the kuomintang after 1949. but today, 70 per cent still speak taiwanese. it’s a regional variation of hokkien, as different from mandarin as cantonese — more different than italian and spanish.
language matters here. it identifies one’s heritage and even political affiliation.
after billionaire tech tycoon terry gou held a rally to press his bid to be the kmt’s 2024 presidential candidate, media reports were critical of his halting taiwanese — a legacy of him being from a “49er family”.
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in the past, being “49ers” was the best predictor that voters would choose the kmt, whose policies have more closely aligned with china’s. but last week, the party’s selection committee rejected gou, choosing instead new taipei city mayor hou yu-ih.
the former police officer is “benshengren“, the term used for the majority of ethnic han taiwanese whose ancestors lived here before the kmt fled after the chinese civil war.
despite current war preparations, there has been no obvious rush to leave. it’s nothing like hong kong before it reverted to chinese control in 1997. here, net migration has slowed in the last five years to one in 1,000.
“our roots are here,” connie chang, director-general of the national development council, told a briefing for international journalists. “we do not want to be refugees in other countries, so dual citizenship is not an issue for us.”
but she conceded that because dual citizenship isn’t officially allowed, the government does not track it or know how many taiwanese may have other passports.
the magic of identity or patriotism, if you’d prefer, is that people fight hardest when it’s for something they believe in. ukrainians’ steely determination to defeat the invading russians is a case in point.
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there is that resolve here as well. in 2021 and 2022 surveys, taiwan foundation for democracy found support for democratic principles at close to 75 per cent. nearly the same percentage said that if china attacks, they would be willing to defend the island.
that willingness, however, declines to around 63 per cent if war results from taiwan declaring its formal independence.
but the foundation has also consistently found that — contrary to other democracies such as canada — young people are the keenest supporters of democracy and have the most faith in its survival.
that is bracing news for taiwan because they are already being prepared for the frontlines with year-long conscription now in force for the island’s sons, and its daughters, for the first time, are being trained as reservists.
daphne bramham was in taiwan at the invitation of the government along with 29 other journalists from 24 countries.
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