A Short Political History of Taiwan

One systematic barrier overshadows all local and national level debates in Taiwan; cross-strait relations with the People’s Republic of China. Since the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, rooted in internal pressures of the failure of the Confucian system as a proper vanguard to the core values of the Middle Kingdom (China as it is referred to in Chinese), and external factors such as the coastal humiliation, to Chiang Kei Shek’s semi-fascistic creation of the Republic of China, to the invasive influence of Japan and Western powers, to the creation of Mao’s Marxist-Leninist approach to an organized and vocal citizenry, to Deng XiaoPing’s reformation of Communist ills to create a semi market-based capitalistic system that is both authoritarian and suppressive, and finally to where China is today, demanding international recognition while trying to hold together a fledgling society. China has many vices, but at the same time, many attributes that helps it lay claim to Taiwan.

Taiwanese history is intricate and highly enriched with various cultures. However, the bulk of Taiwanese are descended from the Han Chinese, which makes up 92% of the Chinese on the Mainland. To understand the current national debate in Taiwan, regarding an independent Taiwan, a brief history lesson is needed.
After forming the Republic of China under Dr. Sun Yat Tsen in the early 1910s, Dr. Sun’s leading general, Cheng Kei Sheik, began to develop the republican principles of the new Chinese democracy. Both fascist and authoritarian, democracy was a newly established system that most Chinese were not used to. However, after World War II, and a united front against the Japanese with Mao Zedong’s communists, a civil war ensued. The Nationalists, led by Sheik, and the Communists, led by Mao. After 5 years of infighting, the Communists prevailed, and Sheik and his forces retreated to Taiwan. Therein, Mainland China became the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan remained the Republic of China (ROC). Since Taiwan had been a Japanese colony since 1905, after 1945, at the treaty signing in San Francisco, sovereignty was transferred to the Nationalists in Taiwan. Therefore, according to the documents that followed WWII, Taiwan had control of Mainland China. The United States, and much of the international community, continued to regard the ROC and Taiwan as the legitimate sovereign of Chinese affairs, representing China in the United Nations until 1973. Taiwan remained under a state of martial law until 1986 and had its first presidential elections in 1996.

Since 1973, the United States has signed two defense contracts with Taiwan. While no longer officially recognizing sovereignty over Taiwan, the US respects the status quo and has agreed to offer sales of military defense capabilities. In response, China will position itself that the US is taking an unfair interest in its internal affairs. China regards Taiwan as a runaway province, and therefore, an internal matter, to be ignored by the international community according to the logic of non-intervention; what happens in China, stays in China. Over the past year, the Obama administration has postured itself at odds with the Chinese leadership. The US, however, still maintains a flexible approach to the crisis, calling for a “One-China Policy.” This policy acknowledges differences between the two country’s ideological systems, while simultaneously avoiding major conflict by recognizing the independence of Taiwan. While China has over 1,000 missiles pointed at Taiwan, the status quo has maintained relative peace and harmony between the two Chinas.