In an interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times, which ran an English version on Saturday last week) published on May 19, former Hong Kong-based Causeway Bay Books manager Lam Wing-kei (林榮基) gravely and earnestly urged Taiwan to oppose China’s “red” infiltration through proactive changes to cultural and educational foundations.”
Lam said that Taiwan is failing to resist Chinese propaganda, because “more than 90 percent of literature, history and philosophy books in Taiwan’s libraries are written from the perspective of China’s Confucian culture, so that Taiwanese identified with Chinese culture long before China infiltrated or gained control of Taiwanese media outlets.”
Seen in this light, reading extensively is the most effective approach to transforming culture and education.
A visit to Taiwan’s public libraries would show how insightful Lam’s observation was. For instance, in the history section of any public library, there are books about Chinese history filling shelf after shelf, with topics ranging from the general history of China to a particular period or dynasty, diplomatic history and local Chinese chorography.
By contrast, books about Taiwanese history are listed under “Asian history,” placed alongside the histories of Japan, Korea, India and other Asian nations. This is a classification and categorizing system focused on a Chinese identity.
Books on literature fare no better: For Chinese literature, a major category by itself, there are numerous subcategories, such as general introduction, collections by dynasty and period, compilations of individual works and anthologies based on genre or region.
As for Taiwanese literature, it is listed under another major category called “Oriental literature” — along with the literatures of other Asian nations.
The de-Taiwanization problem is most conspicuous when it comes to philosophy. The classification system features two major categories: Chinese philosophy and Oriental philosophy. The former is further divided into several smaller categories.
Taiwanese philosophy is nowhere to be found, except for an introduction to Lee Chun-sheng (李春生) — one of the first great Taiwanese thinkers — among very few other works related to Taiwan listed under the Chinese philosophy subcategory of modern philosophy.
Taiwanese should ask themselves why the classification system adopted by the nation’s libraries for books on literature, history and philosophy do not treat Taiwan as a subject, but rather like books from another country, or simply ignores them. These uneven collections and classification make one wonder if Taiwan is our country or a foreign land. This is proof that Taiwan is not a normal country or society and highlights the need for transitional justice.
Lam feels this issue deeply owing to his experience in Hong Kong. Causeway Bay Books was famous for selling literary, historical and philosophical books that were banned in China. The experience gave him an insight and profound knowledge about that country.
In October, 2015 Lam was “disappeared” when he crossed the border into Shenzhen. He was detained by Chinese authorities on suspicion of engaging in “illegal business operations.”
During his detention, Lam was forced to confess on TV. More than 6,000 Hong Kongers took to the streets to show their support for Lam, who returned to the territory after eight months of detention in China.
Last month, the Hong Kong government proposed amendments to the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance and the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance. For fear of being extradited to China, Lam fled to Taiwan in exile.
According to Lam’s observations, China’s political constitution has never throughout history risen above feudalism and autocracy, and Hong Kong is being deprived of democracy and human rights under Beijing’s rule.
In comparison, some people in Taiwan say that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are “one family.” Enjoying Taiwan’s democracy and freedom, they still desire political union with autocratic and authoritarian China, Lam said.
This is not a simple matter of self-interest, but of mindset: Pro-unification advocates do not care about the accusations that they are selling out Taiwan and are traitors, because they are serving the nation they identify with culturally, he said.
Having experienced Chinese authoritarianism, Lam emphasized independence, which he considers the only way to realize freedom. He encourages independence for Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang, Tibet and Inner Mongolia, and calls on Taiwan to make fundamental educational and cultural changes to fight Chinese infiltration.
Facing China’s thorough and ongoing infiltration, Taiwan acts like a defenseless nation to an extent that is almost incomprehensible. The nation’s public libraries are not the sole example of a confused identity that treats China as the subject and lists Taiwan as if it were a foreign nation. Legally, China is neither a foreign country nor an enemy state — it is the same country as Taiwan.
On the streets, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) flag can be seen all over Taipei — most frequently in front of Taipei 101, with the PRC national anthem playing loudly, but the authorities can do nothing to stop it because of freedom of expression.
In sports, Taiwan calls itself “Chinese Taipei” at international competitions. Many people, including Japanese, have launched and joined petitions calling for the national team’s name rectification, but these efforts are not even supported by President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration, which claims to be “Taiwan-centered.”
Media outlets call the neighboring country China “the mainland” and its people “mainlanders.”
The political situation is even more mind-boggling. While China has refuted the notion of “one China, different interpretations,” Taiwanese political party officials and politicians planning to run for president next year refrain from mentioning the “Republic of China” in front of Chinese officials during their China trips, but they always speak of the so-called “1992 consensus” in Taiwan and deceive the public into accepting the idea.
All identity must be rooted in culture and education, and only by changing people’s mindset can we normalize national identity. Identifying with the land and people of Taiwan is the only way to fight Chinese infiltration and propaganda, and establish a normal country and society.
Lam’s reminder to Taiwan about the cultural and educational aspects might sound harsh, but his intentions are earnest and kind.
There are records of human activities in Taiwan dating back at least 50,000 years. For Austronesian peoples, Taiwan was the origin of dissemination and one of the ancestral homelands from which they spread out across the south Pacific and Indian oceans 6,000 years ago.
Claims that Taiwan had no history before the Dutch came in Lien Heng’s (連橫) Preface to the General History of Taiwan (台灣通史) or Taiwanese independence pioneer Su Beng’s (史明) Modern History of Taiwanese in 400 Years (台灣人四百年史) reflect a narrow Han Chinese perspective of history.
Culturally speaking, Austronesian people, the Dutch, the Spaniards, Cheng Cheng-kung’s (鄭成功, also known as Koxinga) clan, the Qing Dynasty, Japan, modern China and, more recently, people from Southeast Asian countries all count as constituents and parts of Taiwanese culture.
Viewing Taiwan conversely as a constituent of another nation’s culture, as some people do, is self-degradation. In the face of Chinese infiltration, Taiwanese must recognize and have confidence in Taiwanese identity.
Translated by Chang Ho-ming
With escalating US-China competition and mutual distrust, the trend of supply chain “friend shoring” in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fragmentation of the world into rival geopolitical blocs, many analysts and policymakers worry the world is retreating into a new cold war — a world of trade bifurcation, protectionism and deglobalization. The world is in a new cold war, said Robin Niblett, former director of the London-based think tank Chatham House. Niblett said he sees the US and China slowly reaching a modus vivendi, but it might take time. The two great powers appear to be “reversing carefully
As China steps up a campaign to diplomatically isolate and squeeze Taiwan, it has become more imperative than ever that Taipei play a greater role internationally with the support of the democratic world. To help safeguard its autonomous status, Taiwan needs to go beyond bolstering its defenses with weapons like anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles. With the help of its international backers, it must also expand its diplomatic footprint globally. But are Taiwan’s foreign friends willing to translate their rhetoric into action by helping Taipei carve out more international space for itself? Beating back China’s effort to turn Taiwan into an international pariah
Typhoon Krathon made landfall in southwestern Taiwan last week, bringing strong winds, heavy rain and flooding, cutting power to more than 170,000 homes and water supply to more than 400,000 homes, and leading to more than 600 injuries and four deaths. Due to the typhoon, schools and offices across the nation were ordered to close for two to four days, stirring up familiar controversies over whether local governments’ decisions to call typhoon days were appropriate. The typhoon’s center made landfall in Kaohsiung’s Siaogang District (小港) at noon on Thursday, but it weakened into a tropical depression early on Friday, and its structure
Taiwan is facing multiple economic challenges due to internal and external pressures. Internal challenges include energy transition, upgrading industries, a declining birthrate and an aging population. External challenges are technology competition between the US and China, international supply chain restructuring and global economic uncertainty. All of these issues complicate Taiwan’s economic situation. Taiwan’s reliance on fossil fuel imports not only threatens the stability of energy supply, but also goes against the global trend of carbon reduction. The government should continue to promote renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, as well as energy storage technology, to diversify energy supply. It
RSS