A majority of Taiwanese continue to suffer psychologically by sympathizing with their former captors, said a Taiwanese-American psychiatrist, who urged them to shake off their condition by recognizing their own worth and value.
Lin Ih-foo (林毅夫), from Hsinchu County, is a psychiatrist in the US and the author of Psychological Analysis of the Taiwanese’s Self-abusing Behavior (台灣人的受虐性格的心理分析), a book that looks at the complex psychological relationship between Taiwanese and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Lin argues that many Taiwanese suffer from Stockholm syndrome, a term coined in 1973 after a bank robbery in the capital of Sweden. Following their release after being held hostage for more than five days, tellers at the bank displayed affection for the hostage-takers.
Another well-known case is that of Patricia Hearst, the granddaughter of media tycoon Randolph Hearst, who was abducted by the Symbionese Liberation Army in 1974. Two months after her kidnapping, the 19-year-old became active in the militant group and participated in a robbery.
The argument that she was suffering from Stockholm syndrome was rejected by the courts and she was convicted.
In an interview with the Taipei Times earlier this month, Lin said the syndrome is the result of psychological change in an individual held captive. The victim develops an emotional attachment to his or her captors and becomes hostile toward the rescuer.
The captor is seen as key to the hostage’s survival.
“The victim believes that the rescuers are jeopardizing his or her chances of survival and ends up adopting the captor’s beliefs and value system,” he said, adding that victims will try to protect their captors by showing concern for their wellbeing.
The three elements that contribute to Stockholm syndrome, he says, are a power imbalance that leads the victim to live in a perpetual state of fear.
“The second factor is the isolation of the victim, which leads to total dependence on the captor. The only information the captive receives comes from the captor,” he said.
“Finally, every so often the captor grants favors and the boundary between the captor and the captive becomes blurred,” he said.
Drawing a parallel between the KMT and Taiwanese, Lin said the circumstances and the behavior of Taiwanese are very similar to those of the victims of the bank robbery in Sweden.
“First, there was the 228 Massacre, where people lived in fear for a long time after it happened. Subsequently, there was the Martial Law era. People lived in fear for 40 years and during that time the livelihood of Taiwanese was dependent on the KMT regime,” he said.
Under the KMT and with help from abroad, standards of living improved and the KMT periodically provided “favors” to different interest groups such as the military, government workers, teachers, fishermen, laborers and farmers.
Members of these groups, he said, began to develop an affinity for the KMT. Even after martial law was lifted in 1987, “the machinery of the rulers” remained in place through education, the legal system and the media, which continued to propagate the KMT belief system.
Rather than point fingers at the KMT, Taiwanese sided with the regime while condemning those who opposed the “captor,” Lin said.
“When someone was arrested for speaking out against the government, people tended to say that the person deserved it, that he or she had a big mouth. In their view, the victim was the bad guy and whatever happened to the victim had nothing to do with them,” Lin said.
Many Taiwanese would also jump to the KMT’s defense — even when the party committed things that were against the interests of the public.
During martial law, many people justified government-imposed restrictions that said Taiwanese had nothing to fear as long as they obeyed the rules, Lin said.
Su An-sheng (蘇安生) is a good example, Lin said. Last year, Su, a staunch pan-blue supporter, kicked former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in the rear as the former president was on his way to court. Su also physically assaulted former Taiwanese representative to Japan Koh Se-kai (許世楷).
In July, Su was beaten by two men in Taipei. His arm was broken.
“Rather than condemn Su’s violent acts, many people only denounced the violence that was done to him,” Lin said.
The KMT belief system is gaining strength, he said, principally through the use of language.
“Expressions such as ‘cross-strait,’ ‘mainland tourists’ and ‘mainland investment’ send the message that the relationship between Taiwan and China is one between a district and a country rather than two separate countries,” he said.
When the relationship between Canada and the US is described, no one says “this side of the Niagara Falls and that side of the Niagara Falls,” he said.
“People simply say Canada and the US,” Lin said.
From a clinical angle, contemporary Taiwan has a mixed prognosis — also common in sufferers of Stockholm syndrome — given the re-election of the KMT last year, he said.
“While many people’s views haven’t changed, in the past 10 or 12 years we have seen a strengthening of Taiwan-centric consciousness,” he said.
“More attention is paid to Taiwanese history and culture, and a certain sense of pride has developed,” Lin said.
In a normal doctor-patient relationship, the doctor’s job is to show the patient that he or she can lead a good life without help from the captors, he said.
When it comes to Taiwan, however, the “doctor” is the independence movement — the musicians, teachers, authors and politicians who tell the people that they can live a happy, safe and prosperous life as Taiwanese without being absorbed by China.
Despite some visible progress, Lin said the end result remained in doubt.
“It will fall on Taiwanese to determine the outcome,” he said.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric