Chapter 1 – Introduction
1.6 Methods
1.6.1 List of interviewees
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Presidential elections from 1996 to 2016 will be reviewed in Chapter three, moreover, data collected from various credible surveys regarding identity trend will be cross-checked to locate the major turning points of national identity on history.
Last but not the least, in-depth interviews with major parties and official organizations will be conducted to examine if the adjustments have been made to keep up with the growing Taiwan identity trend.
1.6.1 List of interviewees
1. Mr. Lin Cho-shui, master theoretician of the TIM
2. Mr. Chang Jung-kung, former deputy Secretary General of the KMT
3. Ms. Ho Meng-hua, deputy Director of the Youth Affairs Division of the DPP
4. Mr. Lin , Choung-sheng, deputy Director of Department of China Affairs of the DPP 1.7 Thesis Structure
The thesis contains five chapters. The first chapter includes the introduction to the topic, literature review in which the theories adopted in the thesis and the methods for conducting the study.
The second chapter provides theoretical framework which is composed of major theories regarding identity and behaviors.
The third chapter reviews major political events before the democratization and took place during the past six Presidential elections. Sun Flower Movement (2014), as a major recent event, will be discussed in this chapter as well. The data conducted by credible institutions will be analyzed to locate the major turning points in the shaping of Taiwan identity.
The forth chapter is the interview analysis from which I expect to prove the major political parties and governmental offices do take the growing Taiwan identity into consideration when it comes to policy making.
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The fifth chapter will conclude the political implication of the growing Taiwan identity, provide the prediction regarding future strait policies. Adjustments toward cross-strait policies from Beijing will be discussed as supplementary to have a more comprehensive idea about how the PRC’s reaction towards the growing Taiwan identity.
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Chapter 2 – Theoretical Framework 2.1 Definition of identity
In the last decade of the 20th century, scholars began to realize that self-identity would strongly affect individual’s recognition towards the social structure and outside world, and further shape the political attitude, behavior and value of a group. The identity issue started to attract attention from politic scholars as a variable that explains political behavior and phenomenon. Scholars came up with different disciplines explaining the concept of identities yet they managed to reach an emerging consensus that identities are among the most normatively significant and behaviorally consequential aspects of politics.24 There are numerous ways to define the concept of identities, among them I found the four non-mutually-exclusive types of social identities defined by Rawi Abdelal, Yoshiko M. Herrera, Alastair Iain Johnston and Rose McDermott in their article “Identity as a Variable (2006)” were the most suitable definitions to explain identities in modern nations.25
1. Constitutive norms:
There are some basic rules followed by a collective identity, normally those are the practices that define one specific identity and lead other actors to recognize it. Norms can be unwritten (約定俗成) or codified (明文規定), and serve as collective expectations for members of the group. When practices are also taken as obligations, they may be seen by the group as ethical.
From the point of view of socialization, an ultimate internalization of constitutive norms is extremely important, the collective expectations of an identity group will eventually to be taken for granted by new members, for example, Europeans adopt Copenhagen
24 Smith, Rogers M., “Identities, Interests, and the Future of Political Science”, Perspectives on Politics, 2004.
25 Abdelal, Rawi, Herrera, Yoshiko, Johnston, Alastair, & Mcdermott, Rose, “Identity as a Variable”, Perspectives on Politics, 2006
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Criteria (market economy, democratic polity and respect of human rights) to define European-ness.
There are three major signs in the process of internalization:
1. Logic of appropriateness: norms sometimes bias choice and that is to say for one identity, certain behaviors are consciously excluded as inappropriate or vice versa;
2. Common sensible: decisions are made based on the common sense that formed by the norms which means sometimes the options are barely considered;
3. Logic of habituation: norms may be so deeply internalized that they are acted upon completely unconsciously, out of habit and this is the most powerful form of identity.
2. Social purposes: (shared purpose, secret mission)
The content of a collective identity may be purposive, in the sense that the group is brought by specific goals. An easier way to explain the purposive content is that what groups want depends on who they think they are. People can learn a group’s interests, goals, or preferences by their purposive content.
Both normative and purposive content of an identity may press obligations on members, but in different ways: constitutive norms impose an obligation to engage in practices that reconstitute the group, while social purposes create obligations to bring the members of the group closer. Literature on nationalist movements and national identities has identified various purposive claims from the cultivation of an identity as a purpose in itself to the creation of a state, for example, the post-Soviet Union societies’ “return to Europe”.
3. Relational comparisons:
The content of a collective identity is also defined by what it is not. Unlike individual identity, group identities are fundamentally social and relational, defined by the actors’
integration with and relationship to others. Since group identities are constructed, we
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know that identities may be changed based on the interaction with others. Scholars have already identified three comparisons:
1. One identity is different from others;
2. The relative status of an identity compared to others;
3. The existence of level of hostility presented by other identities towards one identity.
4. Cognitive models:
The cognitive content of a collective identity describes how group membership is associated with explanations of how the world works, like a wouldview, or a framework that allows members of a group to understand their social, political, and economic conditions.
Based on the cognitive perspectives, race, ethnicity, and nation are not things in the world but ways of seeing the world, and the ways of reasoning are distinct to particular identity groups, i.e. Eastern and Western identities have different ways of thinking. In one culture, the identity can strongly affect the interpretation of both the present and the past like Anthony D. Smith argued “subjective perception and understanding of the communal past each generation...is a defining element in the concept of cultural identity26”, for example, the shared colonial experiences.
2.1.1 Understanding of National Identity
Under the big picture of identity, national identity has been a well-discussed subfield. In the field of politics, there are three major theories in studying collective identity, primordialism, structuralism (instrumentalism) and constructivism.
26 Smith, Anthony D., “National Identity and the Idea of European Unity”, Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1992
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Primordialism believes an ethnic group is built by people who share the same blood, language, and culture27, these connections are so tight that the group members are born with a strong sense of belonging. Based on this perspective, national identity is inherited from the common ancestors.
Primordialism is mainly supported by anthropologists.
2. Structuralism/ Instrumentalism
Instrumentalism explains identity as a political instrument, and national identity is built by the government or political parties for their own interests28. For example, leaders use national identity to consolidate the unity and achieve political goals. National identity is an instrument for collective interests, and it is constructed by political elite.
3. Constructivism
Constructivists believe that identity is constructed by individual’s experience in life, therefore it is a product of socialization29. Since each society has its own norms and obligations; common missions; interactions with different identities and their own worldviews, constructivism provides better explanation for the forming of national identity.
Constructivism has not only received support from Western and Taiwan scholars but has also served as the theoretical foundation of Taiwan independent movements. Theories are usually greatly inspired by the development of contemporary comparative politics and international relation theories, therefore from the definitions of national identity proposed by domestic scholars mentioned in Chapter 1, we can know that they were heavily influenced by constructivism.
2.1.2 Event-driven socialization
27 Geertz, Clifford, The Interpretation of Cultures, New York, Basic Books, Inc., Publishers, 1973 28 施正鋒, 《台灣政治建構》, 臺北市, 前衛出版社, 1999
29閰小駿, 《政治認同理論：我們是誰？》, 香港, 香港中文大學, 2016
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Psychologists have proved that events might trigger the change of attitudes, adults can be influenced by political events, in the same way, children can be affected directly, or indirectly as well.30 Valentino and Sears found that presidential campaigns were occasions for increased crystallization of partisan attitudes among adolescents.31 They observed teenagers’ attitudes during the Presidential elections to prove their party preferences would be influenced by events happened during the elections, and their result showed that teenagers’ political socialization was connected to their intense political participation during that time.
Furthermore, the research showed that most of the events that have greater impact were bad and tragic incidents, for example Vietnam War and the assassination of John F.
Kennedy. The uncomfortable events stay in young generation’s mind and influence the contemporary politics.
This theory can be applied in Taiwan’s case, the 228 incident (1947) and 1979 Kaohsiung incident were two significant factors in the construction of Taiwan identity, later some controversial events unexpectedly played critical roles in the Presidential elections, for instance 1996 Taiwan crisis, 319 shooting incident in 2004, and Chou Tzu-yu incident in 2016. The events mentioned above unified national consciousness in a short time and formed a great power that brought changes.
2.3 Constructivism in Taiwan identity
Taiwan citizen’s political persuasions shifted when the new national identities were formed. Under the ruling of the authoritarian KMT government from 1945 to 1987, most citizens identified themselves as Chinese, hence, the goal of future Cross-strait relationship was to achieve the unification by recovering the mainland. After the democratization, more people embraced dual identity (both Chinese and Taiwanese),
30 Valentino, Nicholas A., & Sears, David O., “Event-driven Political Communication and the Pre-adult Socialization of Partisanship Political Behavior”, Political Behavior, 1998
31 Sears, David O., & Valentino, Nicholas A., “Politics Matters: Political Events as Catalysts for Pre-adult Socialization”, The American Political Science Review, 1997
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therefore, maintaining the status-quo has become the mainstream ideology, however, around a decade after the localization, Taiwan identity surpassed the dual identity in 200532.
Based on constructivism, Taiwan’s national identity is constructed by internal and external factors. Internal factors mean the recognition towards statehood from politic elites and nationals. External factors are recognitions toward Taiwan’s status from the international society, and among these recognitions, PRC’s attitude is the most important factor in constructing Taiwan’s national identity, because as a strong power, Beijing is capable of deciding how other countries recognize Taiwan33.
The external pressure aims at maintaining the cross strait status-quo has been competing with the growing Taiwan identity and the demand for Taiwan independence. Such confrontation has great impact on future cross-strait relations, in fact, Beijing has adjusted its policies to cope with the emerging Taiwan independent consciousness, for example, the passing of Anti-secession Law in 2005 as a warning to Chan Shui-bian administration and the signing of Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) in 200834as a reward for President Ma Ying-jeou’s cooperation.
Next, major political events took place on Taiwan history after 1947 will be reviewed to discuss the mutual effect brought by the internal national identity and external recognition (from the People’s Republic of China).
32 Changes in the Taiwanese/Chinese Identity of Taiwanese as Tracked in Surveys by the Election Study Center, National Chengchi University, 2016 http://esc.nccu.edu.tw/app/news.php?Sn=166#
33 吳威麒, 〈由社會建構論詮釋陳水扁執政時期台美關係的身分認同與戰略分歧-以兩次總統大選 公民投票為例〉, 碩士論文, 國立政治大學外交研究所, 2012
34 陳牧民,〈台灣國家認同研究的現況與展望〉, 施正鋒主編,《國家認同之文化論述》, 台北, 翰盧 圖書出版公司, 2006
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Chapter 3 – Political Events and data cross-analysis
Based on the “event-driven socialization” theory which was mentioned earlier, people are easily influenced by major political events that took place in their adolescence. These political events play critical roles in shaping a person’s identity, and consequently the political behavior. In this chapter, the development of Taiwan identity will be introduced, and major political events will be reviewed to see how this growing Taiwan identity has influenced the Presidential elections from 1996 to 2016.
3.1 Development of Taiwan Identity
The island's modern history can be traced back to the period of the Dutch occupation in the 17th century. At that time, there were no signs of any administrative structure of the Chinese Imperial Government, and most of the residents on the island were aboriginals living in separate territories. The Dutch brought in Chinese men as migrant workers, most of them settled on the island and married aborigine wives.
In 1662 Cheng Cheng-kung (Koxinga), a loyalist of the old Ming dynasty, defeated the Dutch and the Kingdom of Tungning was founded. The Cheng regime was the first Han regime on the island, it established Chinese education institution which laid the foundation of Chinese culture. The regime was welcomed by the Han residents who settled in Taiwan during Dutch occupation. The Kingdom was later defeated by Qing emperor.
Qing government was not very enthusiastic in developing the island, numerous conflicts between the local population and officials sent from China from time to time, leading to the well-known saying in those days: "Every three years an uprising, every five years a rebellion." (三年一小反、五年一大亂) After realizing Taiwan’s geostrategic value, the Qing authority decided to declare Taiwan to be a province in 1885, 10 years before it was ceded to Japan.
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After the signing of Treaty of Shimonoseki in April, 1885, The Taiwan Republic was established in June and issued its Independence Declaration. However, the Republic aimed more at resisting the upcoming Japanese ruling than creating a self-ruling country.
This short-lived Republic was a failed attempt, yet a valuable start-up in the forming of Taiwan identity35.
Generally, it is believed that Taiwanese has not yet developed the concept of national identity before 1895, what they had was a local identity which was merely a resistance against the ill administration of the rulers36.
The modernization brought by the Japanese government connected the transportation network and made it easier for people on this island to exchange opinions with each other.
The common feeling of being treated as the second-class citizens pushed the forming of an island-wide identity, therefore Anti-Japanese armed resistances in Taiwan took place frequently during the first two decades of Japanese ruling period.37 However, the purpose of the local resistances at that time was to get rid of Japanese ruling, not to declare independence.
The armed resistances were replaced by a more civic method, The Petition Movement for the Establishment of a Taiwanese Parliament, the petition movement was motivated by Taiwanese’ ethnic consciousness, moreover, at that time, the Taiwan identity mingled with a strong Han ethnic identity. That is to say, the purpose of the petition movement was to achieve a complete autonomy, not to found the Republic of Taiwan.
To cope with the potential Taiwan independence movement, the Japanese government adopted “Japanization policy” to assimilate Taiwanese in 1937 which greatly diminished the ethnic unrest. People who were born on the island during 1895 to 1945 were regarded as Japanese, they were culturally assimilated, yet they were still aware of the difference
35 陳佳宏, 《海外台獨運動史》, 台北, 前衛出版社, 1998
36 陳明成, 〈陳芳明現象及其國族認同研究〉, 國立成功大學歷史學系碩博士班, 2002
37 陳儀深, 〈台獨主張的起源與流變〉, 《台灣史研究》第十七卷第二期, 中央研究院台灣史研究 所, 2011
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between their Taiwan identity and the Japan identity of the ruling class. However, the boundary between their Taiwanese and Chinese identities was not very clear38, hence, when the World War II ended in 1945, quite a lot of Taiwanese were glad to get rid of the Japanese and excited about the “return to the motherland” as citizens of the victorious nation39.
The happy days did not last long, local Taiwanese soon realized the new government from China turned out to be corrupt and uncivilized. The conflicts between local Taiwanese and the newcomers deteriorated which eventually led to an island-wild anti-government uprising.
On February 28th, 1947, a dispute between a female cigarette vendor and an anti-smuggling officer triggered civil disorder and led to large-scale demonstrations which were repressed by brutal military force. The KMT government executed a whole generation of local leading figures, and the remaining intellectuals with political ambitions were forced to leave Taiwan in order to escape the executions or imprisonment.
The anti-government sentiment soon aroused a strong Taiwan identity that asked for political independence, therefore, the February 28th incident was deemed as the origin of Taiwan independence consciousness.
We can see the Taiwan identity among locals was having a major change in 1947, from the Taiwan identity mingled with a strong Han ethnic identity which asked for a complete autonomy under the Japanese colonial government to the Taiwan identity that pursued Taiwan independence.
These oversea Taiwan independence activists devoted themselves in overturning the autocracy in Taiwan, they set up independence-seeking organizations and the publication
38 黃昭堂, 《台灣那想那利斯文》, 台北, 前衛出版社, 1998
39 陳儀深, 〈台獨主張的起源與流變〉, 《台灣史研究》第十七卷第二期, 中央研究院台灣史研究 所, 2011
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they issued raised up the spirit among the oversea activists and encouraged the activists at home.
Chungli Incident that took place in 1977 was the first spontaneous street protest in response to an alleged vote-rigging by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). The incident was followed by a large-scale violent demonstration which encouraged the young locals participating in politics after three decades of the suppression.40 Moreover, the new generation of political elites made politics less terrifying, more and more intellectuals joined Tang-wai (outside the ruling party) movements41. At this time, Taiwan’s political demand has passed ethnic issues, and marched forward to a higher level request-the
Chungli Incident that took place in 1977 was the first spontaneous street protest in response to an alleged vote-rigging by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). The incident was followed by a large-scale violent demonstration which encouraged the young locals participating in politics after three decades of the suppression.40 Moreover, the new generation of political elites made politics less terrifying, more and more intellectuals joined Tang-wai (outside the ruling party) movements41. At this time, Taiwan’s political demand has passed ethnic issues, and marched forward to a higher level request-the