When it comes to the formation of a shared national community, Taiwan is still learning. Having been colonized on several occasions, Aborigines and early immigrants — who shared a common history of an agonizing past — nursed the dream of a small, beautiful nation. Those who moved to Taiwan after World War II took control of the state apparatus, but now their dominance is broken. On this minuscule island, a transition from autocracy to democracy and a Taiwan-centered focus is taking place. Although conflict is unavoidable during the process, the dream of a shared community would inevitably become a reality.
During his presidency, Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) introduced the German concept of Gemeinschaft — a community with a sense of shared identity. Not only did he identify with the people’s tragic history of colonization, he also recognized the sentiments of those who arrived after the war, although they came from a different historical background. He empathized with waishengren (外省人, Mainlanders) — a term referring to people who fled to Taiwan with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) after its defeat in the Chinese Civil War — as well as their experience in the second Sino-Japanese War. His allusion to the community concept acknowledged both the differences and similarities of the experiences.
In the 1990s, in the post-Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) era, Lee, as a Taiwanese and a member of the KMT, held the presidency for 12 years. That should have been a great opportunity for Taiwan to come to the awareness of a shared community and realize the dream of building a new nation.
However, although Chiang, an autocrat, said that “I am also Taiwanese” near the end of his life, the KMT elite found the idea laughable, as they still had the desire to monopolize power. The intention to dominate the state machinery and manipulate their supporters made it difficult for the KMT to become Taiwan-centric. Consequently, the party has been abandoned by the public, who has waken up.
This has turned into some sort of hatred among the party elite, who would rather kneel to communist China, a name that has become a deception for this group. They have betrayed the pain of seeing their nation overthrown and annihilated. After democratization, the Taiwanese public gave the KMT a chance to return to power, but after the change of government, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) used his power to control Taiwan with the assistance of China. Hence, another opportunity to forge a shared community was lost.
Following the presidencies of Lee, Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Ma, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is to open up a new chapter in history that sees the formation of a shared Taiwanese national community.
For the KMT elite who still want to dominate the nation and monopolize power, it is important to learn to be a human being and a citizen, as Taiwan is on its way to becoming a normalized nation; the principle of democracy dictates that.
As for those who suffer from post-colonization syndrome, they have to learn to be the masters of the nation, shouldering both the rights and the responsibilities of that task.
A Taiwanese community is not only a shared community of the people who live in this land, it should also be a shared community of free people.
Taiwan should not only become a nation; it should become an advanced nation.
Lee Min-yung is a poet.
Translated by Ethan Zhan
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