Chapter 3 – Political Events and data cross-analysis
3.1 Development of Taiwan Identity
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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 localization42.
In 1979, the United States transferred its recognition to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) which stirred up public’s anger toward incapable government. Eleven months later, a peaceful demonstration requesting for more democracy took place in Kaohsiung, and the participants were arrested. The trials received a lot of attention from abroad, facing the huge pressure from the international public opinion, the KMT regime did not send anyone to the chair which made people realized the government was shakable. These two events gradually facilitated the political reform and helped shaping the modern-day Taiwan identity.
The lift of the Martial Law in 1987 removed the ban on newspaper publication and the forming of political parties, it was regarded as the beginning of Taiwan’s democratization.
Temporary Provisions Effective during the Period of National Mobilization for Suppression of the Communist Rebellion which allowed the President to be exempted from term limits was ceased in 1991 by then President, Lee Teng-hui43. On May 15, 1992, the Legislative Yuan finally passed a bill that revising Article 100 of the criminal law,
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whereby laws concerning “conspiracy to incite insurrection"(陰謀內亂罪) and “public advocation of insurrection"(言論內亂罪) were repealed44, people on the island was finally granted the freedom of speech.
The political effect brought up by the democratization initiated back in late 1980’s gradually constructed a national identity based on citizen’s pursuit of the constitutional system and human right. Despite the public has not yet reached an uniform goal regarding Taiwan’s future due to Taiwan’s unique politic development, people’s determination of defending the freedom and democracy is so strong that this force has always been able to reconcile the differences and unite the people.
From the surveys conducted by the Election Study Center of National Chengchi University, we can see Taiwan identity has been increasing since the 1990’s, and in 199545, Taiwan identity surpassed China identity for the first time, it is obvious that the essence of the national identity has changed and the evolving national identity has played a critical role in Taiwan’s Presidential elections.