Taiwan should develop a “Pacific identity” and learn from the experience of Pacific islands’ independence movements as it pursues a future as an independent country, an academic said yesterday.
“While Pacific countries in the so-called Oceania region are all small countries, they appear to have a unique worldview and concept on their own way of survival with a strong identity. I think we can learn from them,” Edwin Yang (楊聰榮), an associate professor at National Taiwan Normal University and expert on Pacific and Asian history, told a forum organized by the Taiwan Society.
Among the countries Yang was referring to are Palau, Nauru, Tuvalu, Samoa and Papua New Guinea, mostly former colonies with small populations.
Rather than demanding immediate independence right after World War II, these island nations tended to be more inclusive and tolerant during the process and allowed independence movements to take their course at various speeds, Yang said.
“They were also creative in the status of the country — for example, the Federated States of Micronesia — and did not particularly care about ‘de facto independence’ like some of us did. They were patient, flexible and they supported each other,” he added.
He described the independence-building process as a “Pacific model,” as opposed to the European model based on nation-states, the immigrant-based US model and the Asian-African model based on post-war nationalism.
Sharing the same Austronesian heritage and living on a Pacific island, Taiwanese have never had an islanders’ and Pacific identity primarily because of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime’s China-centric ideology, Yang said.
“Taiwan has never considered itself a Pacific country, which is odd for a Pacific country,” Yang said.
If Taiwanese developed a Pacific identity, Yang said that the way Taiwan and Taiwanese deal with the rest of the world and domestic issues could change dramatically.
To make changes happen, Taiwan could immediately increase bilateral cultural exchanges, as well as engagements on various fronts, including environmental protection, language preservation and the preservation of relics from World War II, with the Pacific islands, he said.
Increased exchanges with islands in the region could also win Taiwan a diplomatic ally or two in the future, with places such as Bougainville Island, New Caledonia and French Polynesia all possibly declaring independence someday, Yang said.
The professor also warned that the independence groups in Taiwan “have not done as much as independence supporters on some of the Pacific islands in terms of long-term efforts and promoting awareness.”
“In the long run, developing a Pacific identity and a worldview of diversity could help raise awareness of the Taiwan independence movement because it highlights an ‘island mentality,’” Yang said.
GREATER NUMBER: The sorties might have been a response to the US and the EU expressing concern on Friday over China’s ‘provocations’ in the Taiwan Strait Twenty-five Chinese military aircraft and four naval ships were detected around Taiwan from 6am Saturday to 6am yesterday, including eight airplanes that had crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and another two that entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ). The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft that entered Taiwan’s southwestern ADIZ were a Y-8 anti-submarine plane and a BZK-005 uncrewed aerial vehicle, the Ministry of National Defense said. The aircraft that flew across the median line include two Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets, four J-16 multipurpose fighters and two J-10 jets, the ministry’s official Web site showed. Taiwan’s armed forces monitored the
Mask easing: Teachers are allowed to take their masks off while lecturing indoors, but students should keep theirs on, as COVID-19 measures ease this week The Ministry of Education (MOE) yesterday released new on-campus COVID-19 prevention guidelines, stating that masks can be taken off while exercising, singing, dancing, performing, taking photographs, dining, drinking, video and voice recording, hosting events, presenting speeches and lecturing outdoors. Large outdoor events organized by schools should comply with the mask regulations issued by the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), it added. The new guidelines came into effect yesterday, and people in Taiwan are no longer required to wear masks outdoors for the first time since May 19 last year. The CECC announced the easing of the mask mandate on Monday, adding that it
LUNAR NEW YEAR PEAK: Taiwanese who are in China should get vaccinated and consider returning early, as infection rates are expected to increase, the CECC said China faces five major problems once COVID-19 begins spreading there, with a peak in infections likely during the Lunar New Year holidays, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), said yesterday. Wang wrote on Facebook that according to the center’s data, the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in China is worth noting, as the new Omicron subvariants BF.7 and BA.5.2 spreading in China are highly infectious and are more transmissible than the previously dominating Omicron subvariants. “The virus cannot be eliminated even under China’s strict control measures,” he wrote. “Its policy
‘SEXUAL ASSAULT’: Taipei prosecutors said that cooperation agreements between Taiwan and the Czech Republic grant Czech officials protection against prosecution The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday reaffirmed that it would not charge a Czech official with sexual assault because he is protected by diplomatic immunity. The office released a statement saying it has verified that the man works for the Czech Economic and Cultural Office Taipei’s foreign affairs corps and is thereby protected from criminal prosecution. A foreign graduate student in Taiwan had filed a complaint alleging that the section head of the Czech Economic and Trade Section had sexually assaulted her on April 21 last year. The woman said the Czech official had invited her to his home and then forced her
RSS