China has always been a cause of concern in Taiwan. After World War II, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) accepted Japan’s surrender and occupied Taiwan. The KMT’s Republic of China (ROC) had already scarred the island prior to 1949, and following the party’s defeat by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the Chinese civil war and its move to Taiwan, it ruled through martial law.
Later, there was a long period of cold war between the ROC and the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) stubbornly clung to the idea that “gentlemen will not stand together with thieves,” which culminated in the ROC being driven out of the UN and thereby losing a condition that constitutes nationhood.
Over time, communist China has replaced the KMT’s ROC. As democratization has moved Taiwan toward a Taiwanese identity, the KMT has changed from accusing the CCP of treason to fawning on it. The fabrication of the so-called “1992 consensus” is but one example of its subordination to Beijing.
While the “consensus” is supposed to allow each side of the Taiwan Strait to have its own interpretation of what “one China” means, in reality it means the PRC.
The “ROC” is now just a name that the Ma administration hides between its legs. The KMT’s ROC has already surrendered to communist China, and all it wants now is to be allowed to rule as its representative.
Former minister of culture Lung Ying-tai (龍應台), author of The Wild Fire Collection — in which she questioned why Taiwanese do not get angry — has lost her sparkle and now criticizes Taiwanese for being too angry, basically pouring a bucket of cold water on Taiwan’s democratic achievements. Lung says Taiwanese need to learn to listen and understand China better.
Taiwan has President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in charge of politics, and, for some time Lung was in charge of culture. She was once widely respected in Taiwan and is now even more respected in China. She was minister of culture under Ma, and before that head of then-Taipei mayor Ma’s Department of Cultural Affairs. Part of the cultural elite, she is still trying to give advice to Taiwan.
Why should Taiwanese listen to China? China should listen to Taiwan. Is Taiwan — including the KMT and its ROC — not already denigrating itself enough in front of China?
Ma frequently talks about the “1992 consensus,” but China does not recognize his “ROC.” It is China that should listen to Taiwan, not the other way round.
Taiwan should watch China, not listen to it. Watching is closer than listening as it is subjective.
New China, which was established by changing the course of the ROC and pushing over the KMT’s China, has moved from communism to capitalism wrapped up in a shroud of socialism. As it has developed into the strong economic power that it is today, Taiwan must pay attention to it, understand it and study it.
Watching China means building a more subjective vantage point in addition to Taiwan’s own development. The PRC exists separately from Taiwan. China should listen to Taiwan, but more importantly, Taiwan must watch China — watch it to learn what it is and to learn why it is.
Lee Min-yung is a poet.
Translated Tu Yu-an and Perry Svensson
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