In comparison with the arrival of Chinese tourists on direct flights earlier this month, a special travel guide tailor-made for Chinese tourists traveling to Taiwan does not seem to have attracted a lot of attention. However, by comparing the contents of the guide — produced by China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait and the Shanghai City Government — with efforts in recent years to make the Chinese more familiar with Taiwan, one can see that Beijing has been consciously adjusting Chinese views toward Taiwan.
In the short term, these adjustments are aimed at preventing conflict between people from different sides of the Taiwan Strait during next month’s Olympic Games; in the long term, these adjustments are attempts to prepare for a larger strategic adjustment.
The Olympics are Beijing’s foremost event to affirm and strengthen its status as a super power — an event with as much significance as the handover of Hong Kong in 1997. Thus, since the second half of last year, China has been devoted to verifying and examining any possible factors that could lead to disturbances at the Olympics.
With only more than a month until the Games, Beijing allowed Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan, breaking various taboos that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has held for decades. This move was not only aimed at consolidating relations between China and Taiwan, but also at avoiding clashes that could result from differences in Taiwan.
Beijing and Taipei have clashed many times because of different opinions on Taiwan. Taiwanese representatives have a fair amount of resentment toward China as they have often been subject to attacks from their Chinese counterparts at sporting events and other occasions over displaying Taiwan’s national flag or singing the national anthem.
With the Olympics just around the corner, China has been vexed by problems such as supporters cheering slogans and holding up signs for both the Chinese Taipei team and the China team, the titles used to refer to Taiwan by the Chinese Olympic Committee and media outlets, and putting appropriate safety measures in place.
If Taiwan missed the Olympics for political reasons, the situation would be simpler. Although cross-strait relations are starting to warm up, teams and spectators from Taiwan and China are obviously not as well trained as official negotiators. Emotions are likely to get out of control and result in conflict. It is almost impossible to expect that people from either side of the Strait will be ready for the event.
Additionally, with advanced communication technology and China’s tendency to “aggravate” things, news of any mishaps during the event will immediately spread to the entire world.
Beijing wants Chinese to familiarize themselves with Taiwan prior to the Olympics. Even though the Republic of China (ROC) flags were deleted from photographs of the statue of Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙), the Presidential Office and Fort Santo Domingo in the travel guide, these places left a deep impression on the Chinese tourists who came to Taiwan and saw the sites for themselves. While the travel guide avoids references to the mausoleums of late dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and his son Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), it does mention the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Kenting National Park and Chiang Kai-shek’s wife Soong Mayling (宋美齡).
Beijing adopted another preventive measure by urging Chinese tourists to practice “civilized etiquette” when visiting Taiwan, which included advice to avoid spitting and swearing, to dine quietly, to speak in a moderate tone and to avoid smoking in public places.
Chinese tourists are also banned from leaving their tour groups without permission. Such moves are aimed at preventing possible disputes over the conceptual differences of Taiwanese and Chinese.
Allowing more Chinese tourists to understand Taiwan — with guidance from official media outlets — is conducive to helping Chinese and Taiwanese become familiar with the various differences between the two sides of the Strait.
It has been a while since Beijing relaxed restrictions on many things involving the political differences between Taiwan and China. Books on the two Chiangs, the history of the ROC, the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) performance during World War II and books by Chinese academics who moved to Taiwan from China have attracted Chinese readers tired of reading official government doctrines. ROC figures who appear on TV, state media outlets and state Web sites in China are no longer automatically portrayed as clowns. These factors have all helped ease the tension between Taiwan and China.
Although these belated moves are still somewhat authoritarian, Beijing is on the right track. However, it must be pointed out that Taiwan’s current situation is not adequately covered by early 20th century ROC history that the CCP is promoting to its people. Beijing’s campaign for educating Chinese about Taiwan is not only insufficient for teaching about Taiwan’s past, but is also inadequate for dealing with the future. It will be very difficult for China to prevent “inevitable conflicts” by telling its people to use “civilized language” and to “praise Sun Yat-sen.”
The Olympics could be a historic turning point. As Beijing is the host of this event, Taipei should not intervene too much. However, I believe that since one of the purposes of Beijing’s campaign to introduce Taiwan to the Chinese people is to allow them to get familiar with Taiwan’s current situation, the Chinese government should not spend too much time thinking about terms such as Zhonghua and Zhongguo (“Chinese” and “China,” 中華/中國) and “mainland” and “Taiwan.”
If Taiwanese have trouble accepting the “plum blossom” flag during the Olympics, then Beijing should seriously think about possibly allowing Taiwanese audiences to use the real ROC flag.
Before the Olympics begin, there is no way to avoid athletes and politicians from both sides of the Strait interacting with each other.
If mutual trust can be built among the Taiwanese and Chinese now, Beijing’s concerns about the Olympics would likely be resolved and Taiwanese would wholeheartedly welcome the influx of Chinese tourists.
Chang Teng-chi is an associate professor at the Institute of Strategic and International Affairs Studies at National Chung Cheng University.
TRANSLATED BY TED YANG
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