Hello everyone, this is Klaus.
For the Chinese, the Taiwan issue is really sensitive.
People always argue about this topic. Things could even get physical, especially on campus.
Taiwanese students have been physically assaulted by mainland students over this issue.
The more sensitive the topic, the more we should understand it.
This shows the practical value of our channel.
I hope you enjoy this video.
"Taiwan has been a Chinese territory since ancient times."
Every Chinese knows this statement.
But since when exactly?
In ancient times, nautical technology was underdeveloped.
The Taiwan Strait was a huge natural barrier.
In China, history is a compulsory course in high school.
If you have read the history textbooks,
you will know that in China's self-proclaimed history of 5,000 years,
the word "Taiwan" didn't appear until the late Ming three hundred years ago.
That is, when "Zheng Chenggong recovered Taiwan".
"Zheng Chenggong recovering Taiwan" is a term used in Chinese history textbooks.
Actually, the word "recover" is not accurate.
To recover is to take back what was originally yours.
Before Zheng Chenggong attacked Taiwan,
Taiwan had had nothing to do with the Zheng family.
Zheng Chenggong was unable to fight the Qing army on the mainland,
so he was forced to flee to Taiwan.
Before that, Taiwan had not belonged to the Ming Dynasty, or any prior dynasties.
The Han ethnic group originated in the Central Plains region, which is today's Henan Province.
Since the days of the Yellow Emperor VS Chiyou, the Chinese have always fought each other on land only,
and have never developed overseas territories.
So, before Zheng Chenggong, no Chinese regime ever set foot in Taiwan.
Also, Taiwan was different from small countries bordering China, like Korea.
Although Korea was not directly under Chinese jurisdiction,
it was a subject country paying tribute to China.
By contrast, Taiwan had always been a tribal civilization at the time.
There was not a central government.
In the late Ming, at the end of the 17th century,
the indigenous peoples of Taiwan were still composed of tribes speaking over a dozen different languages.
Also, thanks to the Taiwan Strait,
Taiwan had never been a subordinate to the mainland government.
It was not until 1662 AD that Zheng Chenggong established the first Han Chinese regime in Taiwan.
In other words, if "Taiwan has always belonged to China since ancient times",
then perhaps "ancient times" refers to only "300 years ago".
So historically, if you say Taiwan is an inalienable part of China,
you might as well say North Korea, South Korea, Vietnam, Mongolia, Kazakhstan,
the Far East of Russia... all belong to China. You would be more convincing that way.
After all, they have a longer history of communicating with China,
and they had direct or indirect affiliations with China too.
Communist China defines Zheng Chenggong as "a national hero who recovered Taiwan".
This is not accurate either.
Taiwan's indigenous peoples are not part of the Chinese nation that originated in the Central Plains.
Archaeologists generally believe Taiwan’s indigenous peoples originated from islands in South Asia,
who were ethnically Malays speaking Austronesian languages.
So, at that time, strictly speaking,
Zheng Chenggong didn’t recapture Taiwan, but occupied or invaded Taiwan.
He took Taiwan from the Dutch.
After the Qing army invaded Ming,
Zheng Chenggong was one of South Ming's strongest forces against Qing.
He was named a King by the Ming emperor.
So after the demise of the Ming Dynasty,
marked by the death of Emperor Yongli Zhu Youlang in 1662,
the Zheng family’s regime in Taiwan still enshrined the Ming Dynasty,
using the Ming Dynasty's title and used the Yongli calendar.
In other words, during this time, Taiwan was a territory of Ming.
It was not until 1683 that the Qing army attacked Taiwan.
Zheng Keshuang, grandson of Zheng Chenggong, surrendered.
Taiwan formally came under Qing rule.
Obviously, China's history textbook writers' use of the term "recover Taiwan" was politically driven.
Taiwan is now a territory of the Republic of China.
The official name of Taiwan is the Republic of China.
A Taiwanese passport is also an ROC passport.
The communist regime founded in 1949 has never set foot in Taiwan.
Of course, apart from the fact that some communists have traveled to Taiwan on holiday.
The Chinese Communist Party, since its founding in 1921, has never had anything to do with Taiwan.
History always repeats itself.
Before the Qing army attacked Taiwan,
if the Qing people had said that Taiwan had been a Qing territory since ancient times,
the Taiwanese would have thought of it as a joke and said,
"Even though you guys (Qing) started from Changbai Mountain and occupied most of Ming’s territory,
your troops have never set foot in Taiwan.
How could you say Taiwan has always belonged to you since ancient times?"
Today, the Chinese say that Taiwan is a territory of the People’s Republic of China. Aren't they making the same logical error?
The communists started in Yan'an, and occupied most of the Republic of China,
but have never been to Taiwan.
How could the communists say that Taiwan is theirs?
Although we understand how eager some Chinese people are to occupy Taiwan, they have not actually occupied Taiwan yet.
Before 1683, Qing couldn't say that Taiwan belonged to them.
But after 1683, Qing could say it with a straight face,
because the Qing army attacked Taiwan, and Taiwan surrendered.
But now, Communist China hasn't taken over Taiwan. That is a fact.
Facts are facts.
You mainlanders must know Mao Zedong Thoughts (Maoism) pretty well.
This is a compulsory subject for high schools and universities in China.
"Seeking truth from facts" is the core of Maoism.
To this day, it is still the essence and core of the Communist Party's ideology.
Then why do you not respect the facts when it comes to the Taiwan issue?
We understand that some people are dying to occupy Taiwan.
But the fact is, Communist China hasn't taken over Taiwan.
Don't go against the core of your Maoist ideology and make up stories based on your feelings.
So who owns Taiwan?
Even though the People’s Republic of China has taken most of the Republic of China,
Taiwan, Kinmen, and the Penghu Islands are still controlled by the Republic of China.
Taiwan is still a province in the Republic of China.
In addition to municipalities directly under the Central Government, the Republic of China has Taiwan Province and Fujian Province (islands).
So in fact, many Chinese people are not wrong when they deliberately degrade Taiwan by calling it "Taiwan Province".
Taiwan is indeed a province, but it is still a province of the Republic of China.
When I argued with Little Pinks on the Taiwan issue,
I always liked to make a vivid analogy.
The Taiwan issue is, put simply,
the communists taking over and claiming most of the ROC's territories as their own,
but at the same time claiming that territories they haven’t taken over yet are also theirs.
It's as if I robbed you of everything except your underwear
and then went out and told people everywhere that your underwear was also mine,
and that you must take it off and give it back to me.
That would be a bit inhuman. Don't you think?
Finally, let's put everything aside.
We live in different environments,
and will naturally form different values ​​and ideologies.
Since China says all the time that people on both sides of the strait are of the same family,
since we are all "descendants of Yan and Huang", "the children of Huaxia",
then why is Communist China being such a bully?
I hope that in the future the mainlanders will stop being hostile towards the Taiwanese.
Let there be no more violence.
Unification is not the end goal. Peace is.
Feel free to check out my previous video on unification and independence.
Alright, that's it for this video.
This is Klaus. See you next time.