The Politics of Taiwan Flashcards
The foundations of the Republic of China (ROC)
- Founded on 1 January 1912
- Nanjing as capital
- Sun Yat-sen as first president
Issues in Taiwanese Politics
- Domestic divisions
– Those with recent roots in mainland China; and generally those who favour a “Chinese” identity and close relations to the PRC
– Those who were there before 1945; tend to favour “Taiwanisation” and distance from the PRC - Cross-strait relations
– How to relate to the PRC in the international arena
– How to navigate Taiwan’s precarious international position
– Is Taiwan a part of China?
– Independence or unification?
The Status of the Republic of China/Taiwan
ROC position:
- De jure sovereign state, founded in 1912
- Functions as independent state, so “independence” refers to “Taiwanese independence” from ROC…
- Never succeeded by the PRC because it continued to exist
- Stance on “One China” extremely ambiguous
- Common opinion: PRC has never governed Taiwan, so it has no jurisdiction there
- Only has full diplomatic relations with 13 countries
- But de facto much more recognition than “unofficial” countries like Kurdistan or Catalonia
- Passport accepted everywhere (but not PRC), and diplomatic offices maintained globally
The Status of the Republic of China/Taiwan
PRC position:
- “Taiwan is an inalienable part of China”
- ROC ceased to be a legitimate government when PRC was founded in 1949
- “One China Principle”: PRC has sovereignty over all China, which includes Taiwan “Province”
- PRC claims global consensus on “One China Principle”
- Not true. In reality most countries have a:
- “One China Policy”: countries may only have diplomatic relations with PRC, not ROC
- PRC claims its right to extend jurisdiction to include Taiwan, by force if necessary
- PRC blocks ROC participation in international organisations
One China Policy: what it is and what it is not
- Majority of countries have One China Policy: only diplomatic relations with PRC
- But most of them do not:
– state they see Taiwan as a “Province of China” (PRC)
– take a position on Taiwan’s international status
Taiwan at the UN: United Nations General Assembly Resoluton 2758
- UNGA Resolution 2758 in 1971: UN seat of member state “China” switched from the Republic of China to the People’s Republic of China
- PRC claim: there is UN consensus that Taiwan is “Province of China”
- Crucial: Taiwan is not mentioned in UNGA Resolution 2758
- UNGA Resolution 2758
– leaves Taiwan’s status undecided
– does not state that Taiwan is a part of China
– nor that PRC may represent Taiwan at the UN
Issues in Taiwanese Politics
- Understanding of postwar history essential for understanding extreme complexity of Taiwanese society: difference between “blue” and “green”
- Democratic success story: deep divisions in society are channeled and resolved through democratic process
- Civil society success story: where politics is failing a thriving civil society has taken the initiative; further democratization, same-sex marriage, women’s rights, etc
- Media freedom and publishing culture unique in East Asia and is perhaps Taiwan’s true strength
Taiwan as a province of the ROC 1945-1949
- KMT leaders from mainland seen as outsiders
- Taiwanese excluded from provincial government
- De-Japanization campaign alienates locals
- Rise of corruption and poverty
- Increasing tension mainlanders (ROC regime) and locals
1947: February 28 Massacre
- In Taiwan known as “ererba” 228
- Anti-government uprising against KMT/ROC regime
- Crackdown: estimated 10k-30k deaths
- Beginning of “White Terror”
1947: February 28 Massacre
- Extremely important event in Taiwanese history and for Taiwanese independence movement
- Memory suppressed until late 1980s
- Commemoration and memory 228 now central part of Taiwanese politics
1949: Relocation of ROC government to Taiwan
- When Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalist government lose the Civil War they flee to Taiwan
- With ROC government 2 million people flee to Taiwan in 1945-1949
- “Nationalisation”: Promotion Guoyu (standard Chinese) and Chinese culture, Taiwanese culture and languages suppressed
- Massive tensions on island
- Instability: fear of CCP invasion and difficulty in establishing new regime
Chiang Kai-shek 1887-1975
- Chinese leader before 1949 (“Director of the State Council” from 1928)
- After losing civil war moves to Taiwan with 2 million mainland refugees
- Continues to claim sovereignty over all China
- President of the ROC 1950-1975
- Establishes KMT dictatorship in Taiwan led by mainland allies
Martial Law 1949-1987
- Outlawed formation political parties
- No right to assembly, free speech
- Complete control KMT over media
- Sweeping powers for military
- Heavy suppression of Hokkien (“Taiwanese”) and other Chinese languages
- Suppression of Taiwanese culture/consciousness
White Terror
- Often used for 1950-1953: worst period of oppression
- But broad meaning: 1947-1987
For opposing the KMT:
- 140k people imprisoned
- Around 4k executed
- Victims: Taiwan’s intellectual elite, independence activists, democracy activists, indigenous leaders
- But also a surprising number of mainlanders who had come with Chiang Kai-shek
Green Island used as a Penal Colony 1940s-1980s
Era of Martial Law 1949-1987: The Legacy of Authoritarianism
“… Taiwan’s twentieth century can be viewed as predominantly a history of authoritarianism.”
Taiwan Economic Miracle
- Strong economic infrastructure from Japanese period
- Successful land reform: KMT leaders had no ties to landlords; bought them off. Landlords then entered industry with great success. Small landowners then increased agricultural output.
- Large-scale US development aid 1950-1965
- Focus on SMEs, not large conglomerates (ROK, Japan)
- Protectionism (the opposite of what developing economies are supposed to do according to neoliberal orthodoxy)
Nationalisation or Taiwanisation
- Nationalisation
– KMT government tries to impose “Chinese” culture on the Taiwanese
– Idea that Taiwan is 100% Chinese
– Promotion of “Guoyu”: “standard” Chinese
– Suppression of local languages
– Influence decreases slowly after 1980s
– Even in KMT the realisation dawns they need to be more open to “local” Taiwanese - Taiwanisation
– Heavily oppressed by KMT in Martial Law era
– Pride in Taiwanese identity as distinct from mainland China
– Promotion of local languages, especially Hokkien and Hakka
– Celebration of “local” Taiwanese culture
– With arrival of democracy its influence increases steadily
Chiang Ching-kuo as President of the ROC 1978-1988
- Chiang Kai-shek’s son
- Remembered as relatively kind figure
- Understands need for some Taiwanisation in the government and the KMT
- Tries to diversify KMT’s appeal
- So tries to introduce more “local” Taiwanese into KMT: Vice President Lee Teng-hui
- Ends Martial Law in 1987
- First opposition party in 1986: Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
Lee Teng-hui as President of the ROC 1988-2000
- “Mr. Democracy”
- Outlier in KMT: Strong proponent of Taiwanisation and democratisaton
- Tries to get rid of KMT old guard
- 1990 student protests: reaction is opposite of PRC
Wild Lily Movement 16-22 March 1990
- Led by National Taiwan University students
- Against unelected parliamentarians
- Demand democratic reforms: direct election of legislature, presidency and mayors
- Evening 21 March: President Lee Teng-hui meets students and takes their side
The Success of Taiwanese Democratisation
Wild Lily Movement 1990
- Still forms blueprint democratisation
- Boosts Taiwan’s international image
- Contrast PRC: Tiananmen Massacre 1989
- Contrast ROK: More violent process (Gwangju Uprising, difficult transition 1987)
- ROC government flexible and able to enact gradual reform in respose to civil society demands. Less so in 2008-2016.
Lee Teng-hui as President of the ROC 1988-2000
- Enacts democratic reforms for several years, culminating in 1996 presidential elections
- First democratically elected President of the ROC in 1996
– Preceded by Beijing’s escalation-missile crisis - Lee increasingly sympathetic to Taiwanese nationalism and even independence: very controversial in KMT
- KMT still maintains an extremely ambivalent attitude towards democracy
- Lee gets expelled from KMT after leaving office
Democracy’s Core Question: Taiwan’s Identity
Example: Rising trends of people identifying as Taiwanese Only instead of Taiwanese/Chinese or Chinese only
Taiwanese society: The Great Divide
- Blue
– Kuomintang (KMT)
– Pan-Blue Alliance
– Conservative
– Chinese nationalism
– Anti-Taiwanese independence
– Open to close ties with PRC - Green
– Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
– Pan-Green Alliance
– Socially progressive
– Emphasis on Taiwanese identity
– Some elements are pro-independence
– Distrustful of close ties with PRC
Taiwanese society: The Great Divide
- Benshengren – came to Taiwan before 1945
– Extremely diverse group: Origins largely from mainland China but they speak different Chinese languages, and consist of Hoklo (70%) and Hakka (15%) people
– Also there are Taiwanese indigenous (2.38%) who have their own languages - Waishengren – came from China with the KMT after 1945
– Mostly Han Chinese from mainland China. 13% of population. Controlled all political positions until 1980s. Often perceived as elite by Taiwanese majority but poverty among waishengren is also common.
– Generally favour Chinese identity over Taiwanese and generally “softer” on PRC ties.
“Original Inhabitants” Taiwanese Indigenous Peoples
- Est. 570k people; 2.38% population
- Superseded by ethnic Chinese population from the 17th century
- Long history of conflict with ethnic Chinese and Japanese colonialists
- Political emancipation since 1980s: focused on social issues, language and culture preservation
- Cultivated by “Taiwanisation” people as truly Taiwanese, creating distance from PRC
- Paradox: solid KMT voting block, largely due to mistrust of Hoklo majority
Taiwan’s political parties
Kuomintang (KMT)
Conservative
Pan-Blue Coalition:
- Taiwan People’s Party
- People First Party
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
Liberal
Pan-Green Coalition:
- Taiwan Solidarity Union
- Taiwan Independence Party
- New Power party
Institutions: the President
- Lee Teng-hui KMT 1988-2000
– First elected president
– Taiwanisation
– Expelled from KMT for endorsing/founding Taiwan Solidarity Union - Chen Shui-bian DPP 2000-2008
– First non-KMT president
– Assassination attempt 2004
– Convicted for bribery - Ma Ying-jeou KMT 2008-2016
– First president to meet with PRC president
– ‘Three links’ (postal, trade, and transportation links with PRC)
– Corruption rumours - Tsai Ing-wen DPP 2016-
– First female president
– Trump’s phone call
– Fiercely disliked by PRC
Institutions: the President
- Head of state
- Commander-in-Chief
- Promulgates laws
- Responsible for foreign affairs (war, peace, treaties)
- Can issue emergency orders
- Appoints all major functionaries of the various Yuans (government branches)
- Elected by the population through direct elections
- Four-year term, max. 2 terms
- Accountable to Legislative and Control Yuan
- No veto!
Ma Ying-jeou as ROC President 2008-2016
- Most successful recent KMT leader
- Seen as pro-unification
- Campaigns as moderate: “no independence, no unification, no war”. But he immediately follows very pro-PRC course.
- Relaxes restriction on trade and investment from PRC, leading to economic growth but…
- No interest in dialogue with opponents or with civil society actors: this leads to pressure building up
- His era can be seen as KMT reaction to “Taiwanisation”: seek closer ties to PRC
- Resurgence of authoritarian rule?
2014: Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement (CSSTA)
- Goal: to open up large sections of Taiwanese economy (banking, healthcare, tourism, film, telecommunications, and publishing) to PRC investment
- This will increase PRC influence in all sectors of society
- Immediate fears this will undermine Taiwanese democracy
- Most problematic: publishing and media sectors
- Very controversial: KMT government overplays its hand by trying to ram it through the parliament without review
Sunfower Movement March/April 2014
- AKA “March 18 Student Movement”
- Democratic uprising
- Occupation of Legislature
- Against subversion of democracy by KMT and increasing PRC influence
- Moderate KMT figures prevent government from using violence
Aftermath:
- Led to shift in Taiwanese society towards deepening democracy and promoting progressive values
- KMT suffered heavy losses in 2014 local elections and 2016 presidential elections, still in crisis today
Sunflower Movement 18 March - 10 April 2014
- Civil society steps up, also because DPP is muddled on this issue at first
- Culminates in massive protest of 30 March
- Very tech-savy
- Not just about Trade Agreement
- Feeling that Taiwanese identity and hard-won democracy is under threat
- Pro-Treaty counter rally tainted by organised crime connections
- Lead to political wake-up call for a new generation that has since entered politics
Post-2014 Victories for Taiwanese Civil Society
- Block 4th power station on island; 2016 DPP government promises phasing out of nuclear energy by 2025
- New high school text books with China-centric viewpoints blocked after high school student demonstrations 2015; student representation in future revisions
- In 2014 local elections and 2016 national elections many Sunflower activists elected for DPP
- New Power Party (NPP) formed from Sunflower movement and enters parliament in 2016 (Pan-Green alliance)
- Legalisation of same-sex marriage in 2019
Tsai Ing-wen as President of the ROC 2016-
- “Maintain the status quo” (no reckless push for independence)
- Still strongly disliked by PRC
- Very progressive policies: investment in public housing, reducing unemployment, increased government transparency
- Strong focus on disadvantaged groups in society (women, poor, LGBT, indigenous)
- Strengthening and broadening of labor rights
- Early supporter of same-sex marriage
- Recently: very successful COVID-19 management
- Landslide election victories 2016 and 2020
- Vice President Lai Ching-te favourite to win 2024 Presidential elections
Beyond Green/Blue Stagnation
- Democratic success story: deep divisions in society are channeled and resolved through democratic process
- Civil society success story: where politics is failing a thriving civil society has taken the initiative; further democratization, same-sex marriage, women’s rights, etc
- Media freedom and publishing culture unique in East Asia and is perhaps Taiwan’s true strength
