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Web site triggers debate

A screen shot from the Amazon.com Web site.

Thanks to the Japanese Web site of online retailer Amazon.com, Taiwan's official name has once again become a topic of feverish debate on the Internet.

A Web user nicknamed "Ong Ong" posted on a Taiwanese discussion Web site the address of amazon.co.jp, which contains a list of countries in English.

Taiwan's official name is given on the list as "Republic of Taiwan," a name Taiwan independence activists have been proposing for the independent state they envisage for the nation, instead of its current name, "Republic of China."

The message posted by "Ong Ong" immediately triggered a furious exchange of insults among Chinese and Taiwanese Web users.

"So what? Does it mean your independence fantasy has been realized? You shameful and pathetic Taiwanese rats," said a Chinese user.

"I bet Chinese students in Japan will soon launch protests [against Amazon Japan], in order to earn credit from Beijing. Such a message simply offers opportunities for those who are bored to death to kill their boredom," said a Taiwanese user.

"You'd better find somewhere where the Chinese are called Shinajin" (支那人), a mildly derogatory term previously used by the Japanese instead of Chungkuojen (中國人), "so that the Chinese will rudely interfere with other country's internal affairs," he continued.

The ROC was established in 1911 by Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) after the overthrow of the Qing dynasty.

Ever since Chiang Kai-shek's (蔣介石) nationalist government withdrew to Taiwan following its defeat by the Chinese communists, Taiwan's government has retained the name, although Taiwan has only maintained jurisdiction over Taiwan proper and the islands of Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu.

During KMT rule, the pro-independence camp had declined to recognize the ROC as an identity symbol for Taiwan until the DPP passed its 1999 Resolution Regarding Taiwan's Future (台灣前途決議文) -- which declared that Taiwan was an independent sovereign state whose name was the ROC.
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