In 1996, Taiwan held its first direct presidential election. As a native Taiwanese and a member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), then-president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) played a key role in the nation’s transition to democracy. This offered an opportunity for the KMT to transform itself into a “Taiwanese Nationalist Party” and for the Republic of China (ROC) to gain a new lease on life here in Taiwan.
If Taiwan could have had a new constitution as a result, the ROC in exile would have entered history, putting an end to the period between 1949 and 1996, although, since the writing and implementation of a new constitution would take some time, that would perhaps not have happened until 2000.
That would have been the prelude to the formation of a new country. A constitution based on Lee’s 1999 “special state-to-state” formula would have led to the creation of a new reality and a new political vision for Taiwan.
This new political vision would have looked something like this: China in exile would have ceased to exist in 1949, and the creation of a new China would not be incomplete because there was another China elsewhere. Perhaps Taiwan and China would have been able to establish peaceful state-to-state relations, and as the two countries devoted themselves to their own national development, a new era would have begun in Asia.
Rather than saying that the presidency of Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) from 2000 to 2008 and the presidency of Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) from 2008 to next year signify the development of a nation, it would probably be better to say that this period has been a competition between two nations within a single statehood; between a Taiwanese Taiwan and a Chinese Taiwan. This split identity has destroyed the significance of the attempt to rebuild the nation through direct presidential elections.
The KMT’s change from being anti-communist to being pro-communist was a negative consequence of the party’s Chinese identity. The ROC state apparatus has existed in Taiwan for longer than it existed in China, but it still values the 38 years that it ruled China over the 66 years that it has ruled Taiwan. This regime in exile has failed to accomplish its localization, but this fictional state has never stopped extrapolating from its fragmentary existence and fantasizing about the completeness of its own existence.
The KMT has hijacked the ROC and become obsessed with the party-state. In an effort to secure its minority rule, the party has recruited a group of native Taiwanese politicians who have forgotten their integrity due to personal gain.
However, democratic principles are all but certain to eliminate such minority rule, and the wise and enlightened Taiwanese will not continue to obey a colonial ruler. This is the predicament facing the KMT as it attempts to maintain a fictional Chinese state in Taiwan.
No matter how much it wants to make “micro-adjustments” to high-school curriculum guidelines, the government will be unable to curb the Taiwanese identity from growing stronger.
Still, some people continue to fail to think things through, and they are entering a dead end that everyone else rejects.
Without a new constitution, there is still no way out for this “country,” even after five direct presidential elections. Both the party-state and pro-localization formula face challenges today. Despite the expedient measure of maintaining the “status quo,” a revolutionary new Taiwanese national structure must be established.
Lee Min-yung is a poet.
Translated by Eddy Chang
Taiwan stands at the epicenter of a seismic shift that will determine the Indo-Pacific’s future security architecture. Whether deterrence prevails or collapses will reverberate far beyond the Taiwan Strait, fundamentally reshaping global power dynamics. The stakes could not be higher. Today, Taipei confronts an unprecedented convergence of threats from an increasingly muscular China that has intensified its multidimensional pressure campaign. Beijing’s strategy is comprehensive: military intimidation, diplomatic isolation, economic coercion, and sophisticated influence operations designed to fracture Taiwan’s democratic society from within. This challenge is magnified by Taiwan’s internal political divisions, which extend to fundamental questions about the island’s identity and future
The narrative surrounding Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attendance at last week’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit — where he held hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin and chatted amiably with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — was widely framed as a signal of Modi distancing himself from the US and edging closer to regional autocrats. It was depicted as Modi reacting to the levying of high US tariffs, burying the hatchet over border disputes with China, and heralding less engagement with the Quadrilateral Security dialogue (Quad) composed of the US, India, Japan and Australia. With Modi in China for the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has postponed its chairperson candidate registration for two weeks, and so far, nine people have announced their intention to run for chairperson, the most on record, with more expected to announce their campaign in the final days. On the evening of Aug. 23, shortly after seven KMT lawmakers survived recall votes, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) announced he would step down and urged Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) to step in and lead the party back to power. Lu immediately ruled herself out the following day, leaving the subject in question. In the days that followed, several
The Jamestown Foundation last week published an article exposing Beijing’s oil rigs and other potential dual-use platforms in waters near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙島). China’s activities there resembled what they did in the East China Sea, inside the exclusive economic zones of Japan and South Korea, as well as with other South China Sea claimants. However, the most surprising element of the report was that the authors’ government contacts and Jamestown’s own evinced little awareness of China’s activities. That Beijing’s testing of Taiwanese (and its allies) situational awareness seemingly went unnoticed strongly suggests the need for more intelligence. Taiwan’s naval
RSS