BRIEF TAIWÁN’S HISTORY

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The island of Taiwan is located 160km southeast from the Chinese coast, 1,126km southwest from Japan, and 320km north from the Philippines. It’s total extension is 36,197 km2, in comparison it measures almost the same as the state of Puebla and half of the state of Tlaxcala in Mexico (the image is only illustrative, it doesn’t represent the correct proportions).

Well, although Chinese began to have contact with the island between 618-906, ethnic groups already inhabited it. In 15th century, there were already customary routes between China and Taiwan but only pirates and merchants settled on the island, that served as a resting place for travel between southern China and Japan. By the 16th century, Europeans had already started commercial expeditions in Asia. The Portuguese, realizing the natural beauty, called it Ilha Formosa, that mean Beautiful Island, name with which it would be known in Europe. Later, the Dutch established commercial and military bases in Formosa but in 1662 the pirate Zeng Cheng-gong defeated them and expelled them from the island to establish their own government, then they introduced Chinese laws and customs, here they established a prefecture known as Taiwan-fu (the Mexican equivalent would be a municipality).

In 1684, a Chinese invasion succeeded in incorporating Taiwan into Fujian province, where Chinese developed control over the island's aborigines. In the 19th century, the European and North American imperialist powers began to put pressure on China and Japan to open up to trade. In 1864 the English opened consular offices and Catholic and Protestant missionaries arrived on the island. Under the threat of the Westerners and Japan, China decides to modernize Taiwan. In 1884, France tried to seize Taiwan and then continue with Vietnam, but they did not succeed. After that in 1885 China raised Taiwan's status, going from being a prefecture to a province in itself. In 1895, a conflict between China and Japan, achieved the independence of Korea and Taiwan became territory of Japan.

The first changes under the Japanese regime were the improvement of the communication system, such as the layout of railway lines, the improvement of sanitary conditions — campaigns were carried out to eradicate cholera, bubonic fever, and smallpox, as well as construction of hospitals—, the modernization of agriculture.

From this stage, I am struck by the Chinese system of discipline known as baojia implemented by Japanese in Taiwan: 10 families formed a jia, and 10 jia made a bao, the leaders of each unit reported to the responsible police, to Ultimately, it was a system of collective responsibility, each jia had to report if one of its members had committed a crime, if not all the members of the jia were punished. In this way, it was possible to fight insurrections. Basically, it was an incitement for the members of a jia to expose their companions and avoid being punished. It is very likely that this is the origin of the collectivist discipline that surprises us so much in the West (and that, personally, also scares me).

In short, the Japanese occupation lasted approximately 50 years, during which there was considerable economic and social development under efficient and honest administration, but also much discrimination, the Taiwanese only had access to education when the Japanese considered that they needed specialized labor. So the Taiwanese had to live with the idea that they had a better quality of life than mainland China, but they were second-class citizens on their own land.

Office of the Governor-General of Taiwan, built in 1912 under the Japanese government. (World Digital Library)

After the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1943), which occurred in the context of the II World War, Japan had to cede the territories that were considered to have stolen from China: Manchuria, Formosa, the Fishermen Island as well as the Japan's departure from the Korean peninsula.

At the same time that Taiwanese economy was deteriorating due to the US bombing, in mainland China there was a conflict between the Nationalist Party and the Communists. Within the island, the economic and political administration came to be in the hands of a corrupt military state, so the standard of living declined, including the reappearance of diseases already eradicated, and the Taiwanese were relegated from government offices almost in their whole. Likewise, China started a campaign to unite the country through cultural unification, which is why Mandarin and continental readings prevailed, which was a bit contradictory since the soldiers who arrived on the island were illiterate and undisciplined. Social conflicts would break out soon.

On February 27, 1947, a 40-year-old widow was selling contraband cigarettes, then state monopoly agents hit her with the butt of a gun on her head, this action angered a crowd. When officers fled, one of them shot a man who died shortly thereafter. In the following days there were riots in the city, in part because of the incident, partly because of widespread discontent. The Taiwanese elite intervene with the Chinese government, which on March 1^st agreed to eliminate martial law and investigate the facts to punish the police. The elite itself thought it was a good time to lobby for political change in Taiwan; the result was the opposite: martial law was reestablished and on March 10^th the operations “eliminate traitors” (sujiam) and “clean the towns” (qingxiang) began to get rid of all those who had offended the nationalist government and capture all the Taiwanese who fled from the cities to the mountains, respectively. The total death toll is estimated at 10,000 and 30,000 wounded. After such a massacre, the governor of the nationalist party was only removed, but some reforms were achieved that allowed the Taiwanese greater political participation.

Peat over the February 28 incident (Wikipedia)

However, two years later, in mainland China, a war would break out between the nationalist government (KuoMiTang or KMT) and the communist party, leading to a wave of refugees on the island of Taiwan. On October 1^st, 1949, Mao Zedong with the Communist Party, proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China, meanwhile the nationalist government formally moved to Taiwan in December of the same year, here Chiang Kai-Shek established a military government, where freedom of the press was limited and the participation of people outside the KMT in local elections was inhibited. Here, the New Taiwan Dollar (TWD) and the first mutual protection alliances with the Americans were established (1954). From this moment, a struggle began on the part of both governments to achieve their respective international recognition.

The KMT crest is found on the flag of Taiwan.

In 1980, the Communist government tries to start a series of negotiations to the reunification of Taiwan with the continental government, offering them autonomy and respecting their rights. The Chiang Jing-Guo government insisted not to negotiate with the communists. In 1982, the President of Mainland China, Deng Xiaoping, proposed the formula "one country, two systems", he expanded the idea with Deng's six concepts:

1. Reunification is a common aspiration.

2. By maintaining the one-China policy, the two sides may adopt different systems, but the People's Republic of China will be the sole representative in the international community.

3. The absolute autonomy of Taiwan is not possible because it implies "two Chinas": there must be some restrictions on autonomy so that the interests of the unified state are not affected.

4. After reunification, as a special administration region, Taiwan may have its own legislature, judiciary, and final adjudication; he may have his own army; the central government will not send officials; the topics related to political parties, government and army will be managed by Taiwan.

5. Peaceful reunification does not mean that the continent will absorb Taiwan or vice versa, it is not practical.

6. The communist party and the KMT must negotiate on equal terms, the foreign powers cannot intervene.

Later, in 1984, the same “One China, two systems” system was applied for the transition from Hong Kong to the Chinese system, where the preservation of the political, economic, social, judicial and cultural system was allowed for 50 years. A situation that is currently leading to a series of protests and police violence in the region.

Protest in Hong Kong 2019 (Global Voices)

Police shooting at protester in Hong Kong, 2019 (BBC)

Then, on the one hand, the KMT government refused to negotiate with the communist government, while inside Taiwan political restrictions and strong censorship of the press remain, but a very slow process of political liberalization of the country, mainly due to external pressures and a series of political mobilizations inside Taiwan.

During the governments of Chiang Kai-Shek (1949- 1975), his son, Chiang Ching-Guo (1978-1988), and most of the Li Teng-Hui administration (1978-2000), Taiwan was rigidly governed by an Autocracy and one-party system, the National Assembly was the one who elected the President. But the changes were taking place gradually: in 1986, when the Minzhǔ Jìnbù Dǎng or Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) was born, which, contrary to the position of the Nationalist Party (KMT) to maintain what was already there, the PDP advocated a path liberal: free part of the market, democratize Taiwan, open to negotiations with the continental government. In 1990, the island's president was the last elected indirectly.

In 1996, the first direct presidential elections are held on the island, which are widely followed by the communist government as they are considering a way to justify Taiwan independence through the electoral process. The KMT had a liberal reformist proposal, to maintain unity while respecting legality; the PDP took a more radical stance, even calling people to no longer consider themselves Chinese but Taiwanese; a third party openly appealed for unification. The Taiwanese population preferred to maintain unity but without radical positions, therefore the KMT was elected with a broad advantage.

It was until 2000 that he won an opposition party, which could be re-elected in 2004. In 2008, the KMT managed to occupy the presidency again and his respective re-election. Although ​​“One China, two systems” idea is maintained, in 2005 China enacted an Anti-Secession Law, where the use of force is approved if Taiwan decides to declare itself independent. In 2010, a crisis was generated in the Taiwan Strait —the space that separates the People's Republic of China and the island— before which, China installed missiles that directly aimed at what they call "a rebellious province". The PDP returned to power in 2016 at the hands of candidate Tsai Ing-wen, who has shown an explicit stance for the independence of Taiwan; which obviously has increased tensions with China.

In 2020, Tsai Ing-Wen won his reelection with about 56% of the vote. (NewStatesman)

Perhaps there was a time when the two republics could have been unified, but it did not happen due to KMT political interest, but over time it’s no longer just about the (big) differences in political, economic, even social systems; the inhabitants of Taiwan have developed their own identity and they are so proud of being Taiwanese. The threats and exclusions they have suffered is not something that motivates them to be unified with China.

I like to use marriage as analogy: you cannot force a person to be married with you. You can’t threat to hit someone and expecting it wants to stay to your side with a natural smile, is nonsense; the same is true for national unity. I think that all the countries that have been born from an independence process, like Mexico, should support the cause of Taiwan, by mere consistency.

 

I still don't have a own photo but I share this one (El Mundo)

Super short version

Taiwan is an island that is right between China, Japan, Vietnam, the Philippine Islands, Korea. In the 5th century it was independent, the Portuguese made it famous calling the Island as Formosa that means Beautiful. Then the Dutch and the French wanted to appropriate it, but the Chinese did not leave them, so they better settled there but the Europeans and the United States forced them to open the island as a commercial passage with Japan. After a war, the Japanese took over Taiwan, and although the quality of life improved, they treated the Taiwanese as second-class citizens. After 50 years, Japan lost World War II along with the island. Things did not improve by belonging to China again: in continental China there was a conflict between the Communist Party and the Nationalist Party (KMT), the communists won and the nationalists established their government in Taiwan. But while abroad they fought to be recognized by the international community, inside it was an authoritarian and repressive government. The communist government proposed the idea of ​​"One China, two systems" as a proposal to unify the nations, but it was rejected by the nationalists. After many social movements and international pressure, democratic elections were achieved. Currently, Taiwan has a government that bets on independence, while the continental country assures that it is a rebellious province and has missiles targeting Taiwan.