TAIWAN INDEPENDENCE

'Taiwan independence' (, Pe̍h-oē-jī: Tâi-oân To̍k-li̍p ūn-tōng; abbreviated to 台獨, Táidú, Tâi-to̍k) is a political movement whose goal is primarily to create an independent and sovereign Republic of Taiwan out of the lands currently administered by the Republic of China (ROC).
This movement is supported by the Pan-Green Coalition in Taiwan and opposed to different degrees by the Pan-Blue Coalition, supporters of Chinese reunification in Taiwan and the People's Republic of China that favor Chinese reunification. A formal declaration of independence could lead to military confrontation. This would not only be between the People's Republic of China and Taiwan, but could also draw in other countries such as the United States and Japan.^[1]

Different interpretations

Although the name itself might sound straightforward, "Taiwan independence" has varying definitions with different degrees of support. Currently, there are three major views.
The first view, put forward by the People's Republic of China government, defines Taiwan independence as "splitting Taiwan from China, causing division of the nation and the people." What China constitutes in this statement is somewhat ambiguous according to Taiwan Independent supporters, as some statements by the People's Republic of China (PRC) seem to identify China solely and uncompromisingly with the PRC, and others indicate a broader and more flexible definition suggesting a cultural and geographic entity in which both mainland China and Taiwan are part but divided politically due to the Chinese Civil War. The PRC considers itself the sole legitimate government of all China, and the Republic of China to be a defunct entity replaced in the Communist revolution in 1949. Therefore, assertions that the ROC is a sovereign state are construed as support for Taiwan independence while proposals to change the name of the ROC to Taiwan are paradoxically met with even more disapproval since this would be the equivalent of formally dropping the notion that Taiwan is part of the greater China entity (as a side of an unresolved Chinese civil war). Before the passing of UN resolution 2758 in 1971, the ROC was the recognized legal government of China. Afterwards, the PRC became the recognized legal government of China.
A second view is that Taiwan is already an independent nation with the official name Republic of China, which has been independent (i.e. de facto separate from China) since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, when the ROC lost China, with only Taiwan (including the Pescadores), Quemoy and Matsu on the coast of Fujian, and some of the islands in the South China Sea remaining under its administration. Although previously no major political faction adopted this pro-status quo viewpoint, because it is a "compromise" in face of Chinese threats and American warnings against a unilateral declaration of independence, the DPP combined it with their traditional belief to form their latest official policy. This viewpoint has not been adopted by more radical groups such as the Taiwan Solidarity Union, which favor only the second view and are in favor of a Republic or State of Taiwan. In addition, many members of the pan-blue coalition are rather suspicious of this view, fearing that adopting this definition of Taiwan independence is merely an insincere stealth tactical effort to advance desinicization and the second view of Taiwan independence. As a result, supporters of pan-blue tend to make a clear distinction between Taiwan independence and Taiwan sovereignty, while supporters of pan-green tend to try to blur the distinction between the two. This view is challenged by the fact that no official agreement has ever been reached by the warring parties of the Chinese Civil War. Therefore, the Chinese Civil War in fact is unresolved to this day. Both of the competing factions of Chinese Civil War belong to China.
The third view considers the move for Taiwan independence as a nationalist movement. This is the opinion, historically, put forward by such pro-independence groups on Taiwan as the tang wai movement (which later grew into the Democratic Progressive Party), which argue that the ROC under the Kuomintang has been in the past a "foreign regime" forcibly imposed on Taiwan. Since the 1990s, supporters of Taiwan independence no longer actively make this argument. Instead, the argument has been that in order to survive against the growing power of the PRC, Taiwan must view itself as a separate and distinct entity from "China". This involves removing the name of China from official and unofficial items in Taiwan, making changes in history books to focus mainly on Taiwan as a central entity, promoting the use of Taiwanese, reducing economic links with mainland China, and in general thinking of Taiwan as a separate entity. In this view, China is a foreign entity, and the goal of this movement is to create an internationally recognized country which is separate from any concept of China. Quemoy and Matsu on the coast of Fujian and some of the islands in the South China Sea, which are historically not part of Taiwan, are to be excluded from the proposed state of Taiwan. Some supporters of Taiwan independence argue that the Treaty of San Francisco^[2] justifies Taiwan independence by not explicitly granting Taiwan to either the Republic of China or the People's Republic of China. This legal justification is rejected by both the PRC and ROC governments.

History of the movement

The modern-day political movement for Taiwan independence dates back to the Japanese colonial period but became a viable political force within Taiwan only in the 1990s. Taiwan independence movement was advocated periodically during the Japanese colonial period, but was suppressed by the Japanese government. With the end of World War II in 1945, Japanese rule ended, but the subsequent rule under the Republic of China's autocratic KMT revived calls for local rule.
During the martial law era lasting until 1987, discussion of Taiwan independence was forbidden in Taiwan, at a time when recovery of the mainland and national unification were the stated goals. During that time, many advocates of independence and other dissidents fled overseas, and carried out their advocacy work there, notably in Japan and the United States. Part of their work involved setting up think tanks, political organizations, and lobbying networks in order to influence the politics of their host countries, notably the United States, Republic of China's main ally, though they would not be very successful until much later.
Within Taiwan, the independence movement was one of many dissident causes among the intensifying democracy movement of the 1970s, which culminated in the 1979 Kaohsiung Incident. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was eventually formed to represent dissident causes.
After the lifting of martial law in 1987, and the acceptance of multiparty politics, the DPP became increasingly identified with Taiwan independence, which entered its party platform in 1991. At the same time, many overseas independence advocates and organizations returned to Taiwan and for the first time openly promoted their cause in Taiwan and gradually built up political support. By the late 1990s, DPP and Taiwan independence have gained a solid electoral constituency in Taiwan, supported by an increasingly vocal and hardcore base.
As the electoral success of the DPP, and later, the DPP-led pan-green coalition grew in recent years, the Taiwan independence movement shifted focus to identity politics by proposing many plans involving symbolism and social engineering. The interpretation of historical events such as the 228 incident, the use of broadcast language and mother tongue education in schools, the official name and flag of the ROC, slogans in the army, orientation of maps all have been issues of concern to the present-day Taiwan independence movement. With the cross-straits political process stalled, this is likely to be the focus of the movement for the foreseeable future.

History of the Taiwan independence movement

Many supporters of independence for Taiwan view the history of Taiwan since the 1600s as a continuous struggle for independence and use it as an inspiration for the current political movement
^[3]
In this view, the people indigenous to Taiwan and those who have taken up residence there have been repeatedly occupied by groups like the Dutch, the Ming and Qing dynasties, Koxinga and the Ming loyalists, the Japanese. From a pro-independent supporter's point of view, Taiwan is currently still under the occupation of Chinese nationalists despite the government being democratically elected. Under this view, the movement for Taiwan independence began under Manchu rule in the 1680s which led to a well known saying those days, "Every three years an uprising, every five years a rebellion". The people of Taiwan have been occupied in partial or in whole by various groups from the 1600s, the Dutch, the Manchu, Koxinga and the Ming dynasty loyalists, the French, the Qing dynasty, the Japanese, and then by Chinese nationalists. The Taiwan independence movement under Japan was ironically supported by Mao Zedong in the 1930s as a means of freeing Taiwan from Japanese rule The Chinese Communist Party and the Status of Taiwan, 1928-1943, Hsiao, Frank, , , Pacific Affairs, 1979 . With the end of World War II in 1945, by issuing "Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers General Order № 1" the Allies agreed that the Republic of China Army under the Kuomintang would "temporarily occupy Taiwan, on behalf of the Allied forces."^[4]
After the Kuomintang began to rule the island, the focus of the movement was as a vehicle for discontent from the native Taiwanese against the rule of "mainlanders" (i.e. mainland China-born people who fled to Taiwan with KMT in the late 1940s). The 228 incident in 1947 and the ensuing martial law policies which lasted until 1987 contributed to a so-called sense of White Terror on the island. In 1979, the Kaohsiung Incident, occurred as the movement for democracy and independence intensified.
Between 1949 and 1991, the official position^[5] of the ROC government on Taiwan was that it was the legitimate government of all of China and used this position as justification for authoritarian measures such as the refusal to vacate the seats held by delegates elected on the mainland in 1947 for the Legislative Yuan. The Taiwan independence movement intensified in response to this and presented an alternative vision of a sovereign and independent Republic of Taiwan. This vision was represented through a number of symbols such as the use of Taiwanese in opposition to the school taught Mandarin Chinese. Taiwan independence has been some of the motivation behind the Taiwanese localization movement.

Support and opposition

Official political opinion in the People's Republic of China is against Taiwanese independence. The PRC's government has repeatedly stated that a formal declaration of independence from Taiwan would trigger military intervention. The PRC often claims independence is wanted by only a small group, which is trying to brainwash others into thinking the same thing. According to the 2000 White Paper, the Chinese government does not believe the 22 million people of Taiwan have the power to unilaterally declare independence through a referendum or otherwise, and that eventual unification is the only option.

A shopping bag produced by an independence-leaning establishment. The address uses "State of Taiwan" (台灣國) rather than "Taiwan Province" or "Republic of China."

In Taiwan itself, the situation is much more complicated. As mentioned previously there are two different interpretations in Taiwan. For the nationalist one of seeking total separation from China, support has grown steadily over the last decade. This change by no means translates into support for independence, which still represents a minority within which there are factions advocating several different, often incompatible approaches.
The view that the status quo is sovereign self-rule enjoys near universal support within Taiwan. An overwhelming majority of Taiwanese and virtually all political parties would agree that Taiwan is a sovereign state (they do disagree bitterly on such details as territory, name(R.O.C. or Taiwan), future policies and history though). When the two-states policy was put forward by President Lee Teng-hui, he received 80 percent support. Similar situations arose when President Chen Shui-bian declared that there was "one country on each side" of the Taiwan Strait.

Anti-Taiwan independence protesters in Washington, D.C. wait for Lee Teng-Hui to come out of a hotel.

The Pan-Blue Coalition and the People's Republic of China believe that Lee and Chen intend on publicly promoting a moderate form of Taiwan independence in order to advance secretly deeper forms of Taiwan independence, and that they intend to use popular support on Taiwan for political separation to advance, notions of cultural and economic separation. However, for a growing percentage support the view that China is a hostile, enemy nation, is a reaction to the Anti-Secession Law and the increasing number of missiles pointing at Taiwan.
At the same time, polls indicate that most Taiwanese do not think that Taiwanese culture is or should be separate from Chinese culture, and efforts to remove the symbols of "China" can provoke very strong reactions from some sectors of society. A few elements of the Taiwanese society consider that Taiwan is the "true heir" to Chinese culture considering the degradation and rejection conducted during the Cultural Revolution, and the adoption of Simplified Chinese on the mainland. In addition, many sectors of society, especially the business community, are wary of the efforts to reduce trade with mainland China. However, polls conducted by the government and by outside pollsters over the past decade show that a steadily increasing number of people recognize themselves as "Taiwanese" instead of "Chinese." They think that Taiwanese culture is or should be separate from Chinese culture, even if efforts to remove the symbols of "China" can provoke very strong reactions from PRC.
The complexity of this situation was demonstrated when on October 25, 2004, in Beijing, the U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Taiwan is "not sovereign", provoking strong yet varying comments from both the pan-Green and pan-Blue coalitions. From the DPP's side, President Chen declared that "Taiwan is definitely a sovereign, independent country, a great country that absolutely does not belong to the People's Republic of China". The TSU, in addition to mocking Powell, questioned why United States sold weapons to Taiwan. From the KMT, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou announced that "the Republic of China has been a sovereign state ever since it was formed [in 1912]". James Soong called it "Taiwan's biggest failure in diplomacy". Although the reasons for the various groups claiming Taiwan already possessing sovereignty vary in the specifics, they generally view the de facto exercise of sovereignty by the current government clear backing of de jure sovereignty, at least at the present.
Some have attributed the independence movement to be associated with the far-right, and it is supported by the far-right politicians of Japan and the United States. It is also thought that if independence were achieved, Taiwan's foreign policies would lean further towards Japan and the United States. However, within the Taiwanese political spectrum, the right wing is considered to consist of staunch supporters of Chinese reunification (in the mold of Chiang Kai-shek) while the DPP is considered left leaning and the TSU bills itself as the centrist alternative to the DPP.
:''See also: Political status of Taiwan - Slips of the tongue''

Significance

The 1996 Proposed flag of Taiwan.

Domestically, the issue of independence has dominated Taiwanese politics for the past few decades. This is also a grave issue for mainland China.
Internationally, this movement is also significant in that a formal declaration of independence is one of the five conditions the PRC has stated or implied under which it will take military action against Taiwan to force reunification — the other four being that Taiwan makes a military alliance with a foreign power, there is internal turmoil in Taiwan, Taiwan gains weapons of mass destruction, or Taiwan refuses to negotiate on the basis of "one China". (Recently, the PRC government warned that if the situation in Taiwan becomes "worse" it will not look on "indifferently." Given the terms of the Taiwan Relations Act, this raises the possibility of a superpower conflict in East Asia.) The United States would likely be obligated to come to the aid of Taiwan under the terms of the Act according to U. S. domestic law. However, this interpretation of the Act is disputed. Constitutional law requires that a normal declaration of war be sought by the President of the United States in an act of Congress signed by the President.
Formal Taiwan independence is also recently seen by Japan as one of the three situations in which another Sino-Japanese war would be triggered. Japan has evaluated that in event of Taiwanese independence, the PRC would launch a pre-emptive strike against Japan to prevent U.S. troops stationed there to reinforce Taiwan. (The other two scenarios are: armed struggle for the resources in the Pacific and a PRC attack to regain the disputed islands between the two states.)

Recent years

In more recent years, with the existence of democratic and direct elections, the focus of the movement has changed to that of insuring the independence and dignity of Taiwan against the possibility of rule by the People's Republic of China, and as such has been more willing to take on the symbols of the Republic of China. The movement, at its peak in the 70s through the 90s in the form of the Taiwan literature movement and other cultural upheavals, has moderated in recent years with the assimilation of these changes. Friction between "mainlander" and "native" communities on Taiwan has decreased due to shared interests: increasing economic ties with mainland China, continuing threats by the People's Republic of China to invade, and doubts as to whether or not the United States would support a unilateral declaration of independence. Since the late 1990s many supporters of Taiwan independence have argued that Taiwan, as the ROC, is already independent from the mainland, making a formal declaration unnecessary. In May 1999, the Democratic Progressive Party formalized this position in its "Resolution on Taiwan's Future".
During Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to the United States on 20 April 2006, US President George W. Bush reaffirmed to the world that the U.S. would uphold its "one China" policy^[6].

Current status

"Taiwan independence" has been lately focused on what kind of political move can be seen as declaration of independence (and interpreted by China as a violation of the anti-secession law).
President Chen Shui-bian () initiated in February 2007 the change of names of state-owned enterprises, nation's embassies and overseas representative offices. As a result^[7], ''Chunghwa Post Co'' (中華郵政) is renamed ''Taiwan Post Co'' (臺灣郵政) and ''Chinese Petroleum Corp'' (中國石油) is now called ''CPC Corporation, Taiwan'' (臺灣中油) and the signs in Taiwan's embassies now display the word "Taiwan" under "Republic of China."
This year, the recently renamed post office Taiwan Post Co. issued stamps bearing the name "Taiwan" in remembrance of the 228 Incident.
The pan-blue camp voiced its opposition to the changes and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) former Chairman Ma Ying-jeou () said that it would generate diplomatic troubles and cause cross-strait tensions. Later, US Department of State spokesman Sean McCormack said that USA do not support administrative steps that would appear to change Taiwan's status or move toward independence.
Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明), an assistant Research Fellow in political science at Academia Sinica and a former student activist educated in National Taiwan University, declared that the change of name follows the change on the passports covers four years ago. He added: "I think Ma's comment was only aimed at causing panic and confrontation while ignoring the trend of Taiwan's public opinion."
Former president Lee Teng-hui () said recently that it is unnecessary to pursue Taiwanese independence. Lee views as already an independent sovereignty, and that the call for "Taiwanese independence" could even confuse the international community by implying that Taiwan once viewed itself as part of China. Taiwan is independent, even if it remains unable to enter the UN. Lee said the most important goal is to improve the people's livelihoods, build national consciousness, and make a formal name change and new constitution that reflects the present reality so that Taiwan can officially identify itself as country^[8].

References

1. U.S.-Taiwan Defense Relations in the Bush Administration, Heritage Foundation (noting the policy of President George W. Bush toward Taiwan's defense).
2. Treaty of San Francisco
3. Our Historical Struggle for Liberty, Li, Thian-hok, , , Free Formosans' Formosa Newletter,

4. Methods of Acquiring Sovereignty: PRESCRIPTION
5.
The China Impasse, a Formosan view, Li, Thian-hok, , , Foreign Affairs, 1958

6.
7.
8.

External links

★ Taiwan history

★ Yes to Taiwan

★ the truth about Taiwan

★ San Francisco Treaty vs Cairo Treaty

★ Taiwan population and languages

★ Taiwan time line

★ Taiwan history in comics

★ World United Formosans for Independence

★ Taiwan poll should ask about US sovereignty

★ America and Taiwan, 1943-2004

★ Taiwan Documents Project

★ Formosan Association for Public Affairs

★ BoycottChina.com

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TAIWAN INDEPENDENCE

Different interpretations

History of the movement

History of the Taiwan independence movement

Support and opposition

Significance

Recent years

Current status

References

See also

Further reading

External links

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