- 06 Feb 2014 22:31
#14361471
I always knew that Taiwan was the place the nationalists fled after the communist victory in China and thus was culturally Chiense but it was not until recently that I came to understand how sensitive an issue it was. I didn't know much about it and just assumed China didn't care, but when I researched into it I realized that they really do care a lot about getting Taiwan back.
On the other hand it is a sensitive issue on Taiwan. I never realized Taiwan actually never declared itself independent and that there are two main factions, one that wants Taiwan to integreate itself with China under "one country, two systems." There is another faction that seeks independence for Taiwan and has a sense of Taiwanese culture.
The USA has a bit of a funky position on the subject, because it maintains official relations with Beijing it has to acknowledge the One China Policy but at the same time it maintains close diplomatic relations with Taiwan albeit unoffiically through a "cultural representative" which is an ambassador in all but name and the US has tended to be one of Taiwan's biggest allies and is generally closer to Taipei than Beijing.
I was wondering why China, a nation of 1.3 billion, cares so much about this tiny island of 23 million. As I have researched into it more I have concluded a lot of it is through a sense of national pride and unification of all Chinese people under one nation. To them as long as Taiwan is not under mainland control, China feels "incomplete." This is why they can't give up on Taiwan, although they haven't taken active steps to get it back.
On the other hand the mainland's terms of return seem perfectly reasonable. One country two systems has worked well in HK and Macau, and if anything the mainland is moving closer and closer to their system than it is drawing them toward socialism. Really the question is what capitalism will do. Capitalism has a tendency to make people more focused on material matters and less focused on abstract matters like nationalism. The mainland's economic transition to a more open society could either make reunification more likely or less likely. On one hand it could make the Taiwan Chiense more open to reunification when they see their two systems are not radically different. On the other hand young Chinese might grow less concerned with nationalism due to economic prosperity leading to a future generation of leaders to care less about Taiwan.
As for me, as a non-Chinese the way I see it the Taiwanese are still for the most part Chinese. There are some distinctives in Taiwan's culture but this is essentially a part of being a region of a very large geographic culture. Different areas of the USA have their own cultural tendencies but we still consider them to be American. I personally don't care what the ultimate result is as long as war is avoided. Ideally I'd like to see a fully democratic China with Taiwan as an autonomous region within it. It is quite clear that mainlanders want Taiwan back, but what is not clear is what people on Taiwan want. Anybody (who knows more about the situation) care to enlighten me?
On the other hand it is a sensitive issue on Taiwan. I never realized Taiwan actually never declared itself independent and that there are two main factions, one that wants Taiwan to integreate itself with China under "one country, two systems." There is another faction that seeks independence for Taiwan and has a sense of Taiwanese culture.
The USA has a bit of a funky position on the subject, because it maintains official relations with Beijing it has to acknowledge the One China Policy but at the same time it maintains close diplomatic relations with Taiwan albeit unoffiically through a "cultural representative" which is an ambassador in all but name and the US has tended to be one of Taiwan's biggest allies and is generally closer to Taipei than Beijing.
I was wondering why China, a nation of 1.3 billion, cares so much about this tiny island of 23 million. As I have researched into it more I have concluded a lot of it is through a sense of national pride and unification of all Chinese people under one nation. To them as long as Taiwan is not under mainland control, China feels "incomplete." This is why they can't give up on Taiwan, although they haven't taken active steps to get it back.
On the other hand the mainland's terms of return seem perfectly reasonable. One country two systems has worked well in HK and Macau, and if anything the mainland is moving closer and closer to their system than it is drawing them toward socialism. Really the question is what capitalism will do. Capitalism has a tendency to make people more focused on material matters and less focused on abstract matters like nationalism. The mainland's economic transition to a more open society could either make reunification more likely or less likely. On one hand it could make the Taiwan Chiense more open to reunification when they see their two systems are not radically different. On the other hand young Chinese might grow less concerned with nationalism due to economic prosperity leading to a future generation of leaders to care less about Taiwan.
As for me, as a non-Chinese the way I see it the Taiwanese are still for the most part Chinese. There are some distinctives in Taiwan's culture but this is essentially a part of being a region of a very large geographic culture. Different areas of the USA have their own cultural tendencies but we still consider them to be American. I personally don't care what the ultimate result is as long as war is avoided. Ideally I'd like to see a fully democratic China with Taiwan as an autonomous region within it. It is quite clear that mainlanders want Taiwan back, but what is not clear is what people on Taiwan want. Anybody (who knows more about the situation) care to enlighten me?