Taiwan: Why Does China Care So Much?

When most westerners think of Taiwan, they see a group of people constantly

threatened by a larger expansionist state – China. However, this impression does not do

justice to the complex identity history of Taiwan and how it shapes the geopolitical

question today: why does China want to take Taiwan, and why do the Taiwanese resist

China’s claim?

Taiwan itself was never officially an independent nation. This was due to the complex

fact that the Republic of China, led by the Nationalist Party retreated to the island after

their defeat in the Chinese Civil War. The Nationalists was the founding party of the first

Chinese republic, and they were not willing to give up the claim. Thus, to this day,

Taiwan’s official name is still the Republic of China, and the different identity can be

broadly categorised into 3 types.

The Nationalist identity deeply resonated with many who crossed the straight with

Chaing Kai Shek, China’s strongman leader since 1928. To those Nationalists who

followed Chaing, they did not see themselves as Taiwanese. Like Chaing, they were born

in the mainland and were forced to flee by the Communists – Taiwan was never home; it

was a temporary base to reorganise and launch a counterattack to reclaim the

mainland, which did not happen. These people reject Communism, while sharing the

view that Taiwan is part of China, and the last province under ROC control. However,

many of those who fled to Taiwan have passed away, and this Nationalist Chinese

identity is fading away.

On the other hand, to most local Taiwanese, the Nanjing Nationalist Government and its

people were oppressors who discriminated against them while excluding them from

official positions. This hatred of the KMT would only be intensified by the martial law

imposed and the systemic crushing of opposition, Communist or separatists. This

tension would continue to last until many of the refugees from the mainland have

passed away, with the new generation of Taiwan adopting a Taiwanese identity over a

Chinese Nationalist one. With the death of the Generalissimo Chaing Kai Shek, his son

President Chaing Ching Kuo adopted a ‘down to earth’ persona, and began to introduce

more democratic measures. Finally, the DDP (Taiwan’s separatists party) took power in

2000, which lead to an increase in culture that emphasised local identity and the

brutality of the KMT. This would remain the mainstream view to this day.

Just as Taiwan evolved to become more democratic, the KMT knowing that they could

not retake the mainland and losing popularity transformed itself from its hardline

authorial self to a more composed institution that is weary of its close ties to China,

while attempting to maintain is goal of reunification. The modern KMT supporters, unlike

those of Chiang’s era, supports peaceful reunification, beginning with increased

economic cooperation with the mainland.

This shift in identity, from Nationalist China to a democratic Taiwan causes great alarm

for the CCP. Taiwan itself have been under Chinese control since the Qing dynasty,

which was later invaded by Japan. The dying wish of Nationalist China’s head of state,

Lin Sen in 1943 was to reclaim Taiwan. Thus, only little more than 80 years of Lin’s

death, the island no longer considers itself Chinese. Although the Nationalist posed a

threat to the Communists, at least they saw themselves as Chinese. Thus, a shift

towards a Taiwanese identity will only make reunification more difficult. Moreover, it is

important to see Taiwan’s different identities within China’s broader picture. China itself

contains more than 50 ethnic groups, most notably the Muslim population in Xinjiang

and the Tibetans. Many of these ethnic groups have once been a nation until the Qing

conquered them. Thus, a revival in ethno-linguistic nationalism poses a great threat to

China, as it could risk the fracturing of the state. In fact, in the past 100 years there have

been separatists movements in Manchuria, Xinjiang, Tibet, Taiwan, Hong Kong, which

have caused major problems for both the KMT and the CCP.

In summary, Taiwan’s identity shift is not surprising, but something which many border

provinces of China have experienced. China have successful emphasised Chinese

Nationalism in many of those border provinces with considerable success. However,

Taiwan is currently not under the CCP’s control, and the last Nationalist president’s

term finished 10 years ago. Thus, with the increasing popularity of the DDP and a

Taiwanese identity, this could mean the island will continue to distance itself from what

it once considered its ‘motherland’, and make reunification even more difficult.