Taiwan is the master of its own fate, yet the remnants and values of its colonial past still haunt the nation. The issue is not limited to Taiwan, but rather a phantasm that exists in all postcolonial states. The phenomenon is in apparent in several nations following their independence.
Early examples include former Central and South American colonies once ruled by Spain, Portugal and France, and more recently Asian and African nations that gained independence after World War II.
The road to democracy is not a smooth one.
Most elites in such countries were educated during colonial periods. Once their nation gains independence, they continue to hold most of the power, replacing the colonizers as the new governing class. Their positions in colonial regimes created the conditions for postcolonial privilege.
The revolutionary nature of independence movements is far more likely to be co-opted by military generals turned dictators — which has also occurred during transitions to civilian-led governments.
Taiwan is unique in this regard. It did not gain its independence directly after World War II, but became embroiled in the perplexity and confusion of an unresolved civil war between the Republic of China (ROC) and the People’s Republic of China.
Taiwan’s quiet revolution of democratization has yet to afford it a path to national normalization.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) used a revolution to overthrow and cast out the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) ROC, and have proclaimed themselves the inheritors of the ROC-occupied Taiwan.
Taiwan entered its postcolonial era after its own quiet revolution.
However, the entanglements of the “China problem,” and the national affinity of many KMT members and politicians lies not with Taiwan, but with China.
This is why its former nemesis, the CCP, has become the bosom to which the KMT runs crying to when things get tough. The KMT’s fawning and worshiping of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and his son Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) has eroded to nothing but pretense. The KMT now kowtows to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), using the lie of belonging to “one China” to conceal their treacherous intentions.
Taiwan’s postcolonial phenomenon is not just a matter of authoritarian acolytes of KMT party-state organizations wreaking havoc within the nation or the party’s continued abuses within national organizations.
The problem of malicious actors in local factions followed the KMT when it fled to Taiwan, where it declared Taiwan’s “retrocession,” creating a governance theory that incorporated a terrible triad of a single party, government and military junta all rolled into one.
The KMT survived the reforms of the post-quiet revolution in Taiwan, but because of its obstinate Chinese nationalist creed and identity issues, it has yet to evolve into a political party of Taiwan — an internal contradiction for the country.
Like Taiwan, Joseon Dynasty Korea was also colonized by Japan. An independent Korea emerged after World War II, but almost immediately, left and right-wing political fractures split the nation into North and South Korea.
Where it differs from Taiwan is that South Korea had already started on its road toward democracy, revolving through multiple authoritarian regimes and military coups. Taiwan had long-lasting, consolidated one-party rule that sowed the present-day issues of transitional justice.
North Korea is its own thing, remaining under the yoke and fetters of its version of communism. The postcolonial experiences of the two Koreas are not the same.
Communist North Vietnam launched a war to conquer democratic South Vietnam in the 1950s. Their postcolonial experience likewise differs from Taiwan’s.
The aftermath of World War II has kept Taiwan stuck in a colonial era. Former president Lee Teng-hui’s (李登輝) use of Taiwanese identity to win the nation’s first direct presidential election of the then-newly democratized government in the 1990s, followed by the 2000’s post-quiet revolution phenomenon are historic events with unresolved threads. Taiwan’s national rebuilding and social changes must grapple with these questions, as they are not merely issues of politics, but also of culture. If we only look at political problems while neglecting cultural ones, then all reform efforts would be for naught.
Lee Min-yung is a poet.
Translated by Tim Smith
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