The border crossing
Dear Johnny,
I am a Canadian living in Taiwan and married to a Taiwanese. I am confused; maybe you can help me and a few other people.
Many years ago when I was studying geography I had heard of Formosa the “Beautiful Island.” I always wanted to come here. Then the name was changed to “Taiwan.” No problem.
I came here in December 2000 and indeed it is a beautiful island. As long as you look for the beauty it is there for all to behold.
Over the years that I have been here I keep hearing Taiwan; Chunghua; Chinese Taipei; Taipei, China; China Taiwan; Taiwan, Republic of China; People’s Republic of China … oh! Now I am confused.
My wife and I went to Canada in June to visit the east coast. We reached the border at a small crossing just west of a major crossing south of Montreal. I had crossed there before but this time it was different.
I was asked many questions, like why did I choose this place to cross the border? Well, my answer was that I had been here before and we were following a certain route that led us there.
But I did not realize one thing. My wife and two kids, being Taiwanese citizens, had to have an I-94. This was OK, he said he would see what he could do.
He issued the I-94 and we went on our merry way. The following day I noticed that on the I-94 where it says country of origin the following was typed: CHINA (TAIWAN).
Where is this place, “China Taiwan”?
I am talking about the US government here, not some small country that takes its orders from China.
Den
Johnny replies: There’s only two things that can be said about this incident, Den.
The first is that the US immigration authorities don’t care about matters as arcane as state sovereignty. They just do what they are told.
The second is that if you told the average Taiwanese this story, the standard response would be “But did you have a good holiday?”
Make no mistake, my friend. This is a time of self-preservation and resignation. The way I see it, a critical mass of frustration and privation will have to be reached before Taiwanese can demand of their new government the kind of patriotic backbone that the previous one tried to show.
I’m just trying to work out what the snapping point will be.
Right now it’s very hard to think what could possibly do it short of a Chinese missile barrage.
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