On this episode of China Uncensored,
10 things people get wrong about Taiwan.
Welcome back to China Uncensored.
I’m Chris Chappell.
I’m in Taipei,
the capital of a country that most countries
don’t even recognize as a country.
Why not?
Because...well, it’s complicated.
And “complicated” is why so many people get things about it wrong.
Here are 10 common misconceptions people have about Taiwan.
Misconception #10
It’s officially called Taiwan.
No.
Most people *call* this place Taiwan.
But its official name is the Republic of China.
That’s different from the People’s Republic of China.
Taiwan is technically the name of a land mass, not a country.
Taiwan is the main island,
this big one that’s shaped like a sweet potato.
But the Republic of China government actually has domain
over an archipelago of 166 islands.
Most of them are really small and no one lives there.
But for simplicity, most people still call the country “Taiwan.”
And honestly, that’s less confusing than calling it the Republic of China.
It’s a bit like calling The Netherlands “Holland.”
It’s...good enough.
And that’s what I’m going to mostly use in this episode for simplicity.
Personally, I think we should go back to calling Taiwan
the Republic of Formosa.
I mean, look at this flag.
It’s so cool!
What’s that, Shelley?
It only lasted five months?
Fine.
Misconception #9
Taiwan wants to declare independence from China.
Any way you measure it, Taiwan is a sovereign state.
Taiwan has its own government, passports,
currency, trade agreements, and so on.
But the People’s Republic of China,
this one, claims Taiwan is just a province of China--
even though that is objectively not true.
In reality, Taiwan is independent.
But the People’s Republic of China has said
it would invade Taiwan if it *declares* independence.
The solution?
The current Taiwan government’s position is that
they already *are* an independent country,
so there’s no need to *declare independence.*
Problem solved.
Misconception #8
There is a One China Policy,
which most of the world, including the US agrees with.
No.
There is no single One China Policy.
The common explanation for the One China Policy
is that both the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China
claim to be the legitimate ruler of both Chinas--
but they just disagree about which of them is that legitimate ruler.
This is sometimes referred to as the 1992 consensus.
But people also disagree about what the 1992 consensus is
or if it even exists in the first place.
Just like Pluto.
So what are the different One China policies?
The People’s Republic of China has what it calls the One China Principle,
which is that there is only one legitimate China,
and the People’s Republic of China is it.
And that Taiwan is a province of the PRC.
But their One China Principle doesn’t recognize that Taiwan
or other countries might have a different view.
Decades ago under the KMT Party,
Taiwan had a similar view,
except saying that *they* were the single legitimate China.
But now it’s 2020.
And more and more people in Taiwan don’t view themselves as Chinese.
They have their own identity as Taiwanese,
and they no longer have any illusions
that one day they’ll retake the mainland.
Sometimes you’ll see media reports
that mention America’s One China Policy.
And sometimes those media reports will say that America
agrees with the PRC’s One China Policy.
These media reports are wrong.
The US does have its own One China Policy.
It comes from the 1972 Shanghai Communiqué, which says, essentially,
that the US acknowledges that China and Taiwan
both view themselves as the legitimate China.
But the US’s policy doesn’t take sides
on which one is the legitimate China.
It also doesn’t explicitly state the sovereign status of Taiwan.
Diplomacy: the art of making things so confusing
that everyone stops trying to figure them out.
Misconception #7
Taiwan is a renegade province of China.
Or a “breakaway” province of China.
No, that’s pure communist propaganda.
At no point in history was the island of Taiwan
a province of the People’s Republic of China.
In fact, there were only two brief points in history--
both less than 10 years long--
where Taiwan was actually ruled as a province of China.
And those were during previous eras--
before the People’s Republic took over China.
During Taiwan’s history,
it has also been ruled independently,
as well as by the Dutch, Spanish, and Japanese.
Calling Taiwan a “renegade province”
or a “breakaway province” of China
is just buying into the propaganda.
Misconception #6
The PRC wants “re-unification.”
Well, they say they do.
But built into that phrase is more propaganda.
Taiwan can’t *re* unify with the People’s Republic of China,
since as I mentioned,
it was never unified in the first place.
Chinese speaking people aren’t so easily fooled.
So in Chinese,
the People’s Republic of China just calls it “unification.”
Misconception #5
Taiwan is culturally Chinese.
In Taiwan, the most common language is Mandarin.
But it’s not strictly Chinese culture.
During most of the last millennium,
the island of Taiwan was ruled by various aboriginal people,
who spoke their own languages and had their own customs.
In the mid-1600s,
Taiwan was occupied by the Dutch and the Spanish.
And from 1895 through 1945, it was ruled by Japan.
Sure, Taiwan had Chinese immigrants,
but it was not mainly a Chinese place.
After World War II,
the winners--i.e.
America--
made Japan leave Taiwan.
The US gave the island to their ally,
the Republic of China government,
which at the time ruled all of China.
But that rule only lasted a few more years.
The communists started a civil war, and won.
In 1949, the Republic of China government fled to the island of Taiwan,
where they re-established their government along with military rule,
and enforced the Mandarin language and Chinese culture.
Misconception #4
Taiwan’s national day celebrates the founding of their country.
No.
Taiwan’s national day is not an independence day.
It actually celebrates October 10, 1911--
the start of the Wuchang uprising
that eventually overthrew the Qing Dynasty.
That uprising eventually led to the founding of the Republic of China.
It can be confusing, because the People’s Republic of China
has their own national day.
And theirs does celebrate their founding.
Misconception #3
Most people in Taiwan want unification with mainland China.
No, that’s pure communist propaganda.
But the opposite isn’t quite true either.
There’s a wide variety of views.
“Unification” is a spectrum.
After seeing what happened in Hong Kong,
most people in Taiwan don’t want unification under that system,
although there’s a minority of stupid people
who somehow think it wouldn’t be so bad.
But some people in Taiwan would be happy to unify,
*if* China becomes a democracy.
Especially if the Chinese Communist Party is completely gone first.
And then there are some people in Taiwan
who want complete independence,
no matter what.
But it seems that most people in Taiwan--
including both major political parties--
want to keep the status quo of not being unified,
and waiting to see what happens.
The political parties mainly disagree over
how much to engage with China economically,
but both want to maintain Taiwan’s sovereignty.
Misconception #2
Political interference in the election was not effective
because Tsai Ing-wen won the election.
No.
Tsai *did* win the election on January 11.
If you saw our previous video,
you know that Hong Kong was a big factor in Tsai’s win.
As well as her campaign’s anime adventure game called
“What?!
I, a Taiwanese third-year high schooler from Class 2,
suddenly fell into a different world and met the president?!”
I’m never going to get tired of saying that.
But the Chinese Communist Party had tried really,
really hard to stop Tsai from winning.
They interfered with the elections in a variety of ways,
including supporting her opponents’ campaigns,
spreading fake news on social media,
and even buying up Taiwanese media,
and having them run anti-Tsai propaganda.
That actually influenced a lot of people.
It just wasn’t enough to stop Tsai from being elected.
And the Communist Party’s political interference
is not going away, either.
And Misconception #1
The US president can’t meet with Taiwan’s president
because we don’t have formal diplomatic ties.
The last time a sitting US president visited Taiwan was 1960.
After the US switched diplomatic alliances to China in 1979,
US presidents have avoided
all direct communication with Taiwan’s presidents,
so as to not anger the Chinese regime.
Except that one phone call 3 years ago.
But you know, Trump will do Trump.
But there’s no law actually stopping the US and Taiwan presidents
from having phone chats, or even a face-to-face meeting.
All it takes is a Taiwan president who has a strong mandate from the people.
...and a US president who isn’t afraid of pissing off communist China.
I mean, the US doesn’t have official diplomatic relations with North Korea,
but that didn’t stop *this* meeting from happening.
Or this meeting.
So there’s no reason Trump can’t meet with
a democratically elected leader and ally.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens.
So what do you think?
Leave your comments below.
Once again, I’m Chris Chappell.
See you next time.