Your editorial "Hen Tai is a badge of pride" (Aug. 20, page 8) ends with a remark to the effect that Irish are prepared to use violence to stand up for their own country and culture -- surely this is the correct interpretation of your editorialist's talk of a "robust" response -- and laments the Taiwanese inability to follow suit.
Probably you have been deluged with mail saying how irresponsible the advocacy of violence is. But I will not say that; there are indeed causes for which it is worth taking up arms, there is oppression so burdensome that it has to be fought. But one of the most interesting things about Taiwan's experience is that Taiwanese have never seemed to think so.
It is true that they resisted the Japanese takeover in a half-hearted way, but this was more out of a determination to protect the land their ancestors had won for them, not because of any nationalist sentiment. Indeed modern scholarship sees "Taiwanese" itself as a constructed identity that did not emerge until the 1920s.
By the time of "retrocession" and the 228 Massacre this identity might have been well developed. But after 228 it is amazing that the KMT's despotism could continue for 40 years with the absolute minimum of trouble. Your reference to Ireland brings this to mind. The "troubles" in Northern Ireland are not of course a recent invention. Ireland has a history not just of outright rebellion against England but of an endless and violent harassment of the agents of the English system -- the magistrate shot from behind a hedge, the bailiff cudgelled on the highway. The same thing never happened here in Taiwan. No KMT official ever lived in fear of the shadow of a gunman, yet given the extent of the KMT organization, even down to the village level, there were innumerable inviting targets.
That this kind of sub-civil war violence never occurred is regarded as a great thing for Taiwan. But, to me at least, the Irish reaction seems utterly predictable (note that I did not say ethical). Somebody steals your country and oppresses you, what are you going to do? Complain about it, seems to be about as far as the Taiwanese have been prepared to go.
I remember going to see the film Michael Collins with some Taiwanese friends a decade ago and saying to them "that is how you get a free country." Their reaction was to say that this was unthinkable in Taiwan. And this made me think, if you don't see your country as something worth fighting for, what real sense of it do you have?
Taiwanese have often criticized Mainlanders for treating the country as a foxhole, a place to shelter during a battle and of no more worth than that. But Taiwanese themselves seem to have no more loyalty to the place than short-term tenants. Your editorialist is right, if someone were sneer at me because of my origin I would punch them in the mouth. And I have, during a long residency here, never seen the same feeling among Taiwanese. People use the phrase "hen Tai" because they can get away with it. The simple answer is: don't let them.
William Paton
Taipei
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