Exaggerations by politicians and the media have distorted the issue of Taiwan's national consciousness, now considered an ethnicity issue. Members of the public painting themselves as part of the "center" are making loud noises, while people within the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) believe Taiwan is ethnically divided.
We cannot deny that Taiwan has an ethnic problem, but it is not a matter of ethnic division. Even the most civilized democratic countries experience ethnic problems. The key lies in whether the government is stirring up, encouraging or preventing ethnic opposition.
Ethnic problems existed under the Chiang family, too, only the media weren't allowed to report them. These problems have become less intense following democratization and the passing of time. However, people with ulterior motives, followed by more muddle-headed people, create the misperception that ethnic division is real.
In 1949, Chiang Kai-shek (
The democratization process weakened Mainlander privileges and negatively influenced their interests. The political remnants of the old system then used the ethnicity issue to oppose the developing democracy movement, labelling democracy "populism." Because army, government, economy and bureaucracy were in the hands of the authoritarian system for several decades, this framing of the ethnic issue -- whether in the media or in education -- entered deep into the minds of the public, and with time it became the accepted truth. The deeper the democracy movement's roots, the more ethnic opposition was exaggerated against it.
The unification-independence issue has always been a matter of national identification, but it also has been misperceived as an ethnicity issue, making a domestic consensus more difficult.
We have also seen 90 percent of Mainlanders vote for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
Radicals came out for "a final struggle," while Lien and Soong relied on rumor and exaggeration to create social disorder and destroy Taiwan's international image. They did not even stop at violence, and should be condemned by all Taiwan.
As a result of the KMT's past authoritarian rule and the White Terror, some actions resulting from the DPP's "tragic" mobilization and unification of the public may have brought harm to some Mainlanders, but only in an extreme minority of cases. As the remnants of the old authoritarian system bring daily accusations of ethnic division and "green terror," they should bring out the names of the victims or remain quiet.
The fact that the representatives of the 12 percent of Taiwan's population made up of Mainlanders can receive almost 50 percent of the vote is proof that localization activists do not look down on Mainlanders.
Following Taiwan's democratization, it is only natural that the interests of those privileged Mainlanders who relied on the Chiang family have been weakened. This doesn't mean there is a policy to exterminate them.
Clinging to old feelings of superiority, they will eventually become irrelevant. Although the children of Mainlanders, they will gradually become integrated with Taiwanese society. There is nothing Soong can do about that.
Paul Lin is a commentator based in New York.
Translated by Perry Svensson
Within Taiwan’s education system exists a long-standing and deep-rooted culture of falsification. In the past month, a large number of “ghost signatures” — signatures using the names of deceased people — appeared on recall petitions submitted by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) against Democratic Progressive Party legislators Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶). An investigation revealed a high degree of overlap between the deceased signatories and the KMT’s membership roster. It also showed that documents had been forged. However, that culture of cheating and fabrication did not just appear out of thin air — it is linked to the
On April 19, former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) gave a public speech, his first in about 17 years. During the address at the Ketagalan Institute in Taipei, Chen’s words were vague and his tone was sour. He said that democracy should not be used as an echo chamber for a single politician, that people must be tolerant of other views, that the president should not act as a dictator and that the judiciary should not get involved in politics. He then went on to say that others with different opinions should not be criticized as “XX fellow travelers,” in reference to
Taiwan People’s Party Legislator-at-large Liu Shu-pin (劉書彬) asked Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) a question on Tuesday last week about President William Lai’s (賴清德) decision in March to officially define the People’s Republic of China (PRC), as governed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as a foreign hostile force. Liu objected to Lai’s decision on two grounds. First, procedurally, suggesting that Lai did not have the right to unilaterally make that decision, and that Cho should have consulted with the Executive Yuan before he endorsed it. Second, Liu objected over national security concerns, saying that the CCP and Chinese President Xi
China’s partnership with Pakistan has long served as a key instrument in Beijing’s efforts to unsettle India. While official narratives frame the two nations’ alliance as one of economic cooperation and regional stability, the underlying strategy suggests a deliberate attempt to check India’s rise through military, economic and diplomatic maneuvering. China’s growing influence in Pakistan is deeply intertwined with its own global ambitions. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative, offers China direct access to the Arabian Sea, bypassing potentially vulnerable trade routes. For Pakistan, these investments provide critical infrastructure, yet they also
RSS