2002/05/21 Li Thian-hok／Freelance commentator based in Pennsylvania
Is Chen Chinese or Taiwanese?

On April 1, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was quoted in the local newspapers as 
indicating his desire to visit his hometown in China, the village of Kejiazhuang in Fujian 
Province.

"If there is an opportunity to go to the mainland, I would like to go to my old village in 
Fujian," he said.  Since Chen was born in Taiwan, the use of the word "hometown" in the 
CNN report by Willy Wo-Lap Lam was misleading. What Chen meant was obviously his 
ancestral village.

In his stopover in New York City last May, Chen hosted a reception and dinner for more 
than 100 Taiwanese-American community leaders from the mid-Atlantic states at the 
Waldorf Astoria Hotel and delivered a speech in Mandarin. To the dismay of many in the 
audience, Chen referred to the assemblage as we Chinese  A great majority of 
Taiwanese-Americans have strong emotional attachment to their homeland and actually 
feel insulted if they are called Chinese-Americans.

`The reasons given for the goal of integration with China betray Chen's fuzzy and confused 
thinking about Taiwan-China relations.'

In his New Year's Eve message at the end of 2000, Chen said China and Taiwan share 
similar history, culture and ethnicity and therefore it is the policy of his administration to 
strive for cultural and economic integration with China, leading to eventual political 
integration with the People's Republic of China. The reasons given for the goal of 
integration with China betray Chen's fuzzy and confused thinking about Taiwan-China 
relations. Taiwan's history is dissimilar from that of China. Taiwan has been ruled by the 
Dutch, Koxinga, the Qing Dynasty (an alien regime which ruled China from 1644 to 1911) 
and Japan. Taiwan's history may be characterized as an incessant struggle for liberty 
against foreign rulers. Taiwan has also been separated from China through most of its 
history. In the past 100 years, Taiwan was ruled by a central Chinese government for only 
four years, from 1945 to 1949. While it is true much of Taiwan's culture has its origins in 
China, Taiwan has also be!

An exposed to the influence of other cultures, particularly that of Japan during the colonial 
period and, through education and media exposure, American and European cultures as 
well. Furthermore, shared culture is merely one factor in the shaping of a common national 
identity. Korea and Japan, for example, have both adopted many elements of Chinese 
culture, such as Confucian ethics and Chinese characters. But such cultural influences have 
not deflected the Koreans or Japanese from their own distinct sense of nationhood.

Race is also overrated as a basis for national consciousness. China has been conquered 
and ruled by barbarian tribes many times and over long periods in its history. The so-called 
Han Chinese race is a myth created for political purposes. Besides, Taiwan has several 
distinct ethnic groups. Today's dominant Holo and Hakka groups are quite different from 
their counterparts in Southern China because of intermarriage with the Aboriginal 
inhabitants since the 17th century. In any event, it is futile to equate race with nationality. 
Regardless of their ethnic origin or time of arrival, all citizens who love Taiwan and pledge 
allegiance to Taiwan should call themselves Taiwanese. Ethnicity should not be invoked in 
discussing the independence-unification issue.

So when Chen says Taiwan should integrate with China because we are all Chinese 
sharing the same history, culture and ethnicity, he is on very flimsy ground. It 
is also unclear what Chen means by the word "Chinese," because the context is not 
defined. He could have meant that he is a Han Chinese, a descendant of the Yellow 
Emperor. Such belief, however, is an unscientific concept artificially created by 
political indoctrination. If Chen called himself a Chinese to express his affinity 
with Chinese culture, this is understandable, but it may also indicate his paucity 
of knowledge about the unique features of Taiwan's history, culture and value systems.
In common usage, the word Chinese is frequently used to denote a person's allegiance 
to the nation of China, which is now understood by the international community as the 
People's Republic of China. This is why it is misleading and self-defeating for anyone 
who owes allegiance to Taiwan to call himself a Chinese. Without a clear sense of 
Taiwanese national identity, it will be difficult for Taiwan to develop a consensus to 
defend its freedom, to preserve its de facto independence and to develop a viable, 
self-reliant economy, because businessmen would prefer to develop China's larger 
economy instead. It will be difficult to build a robust military force dedicated to 
the island's defense because bright youngsters cannot be motivated to join the armed 
forces. Without patriotism, morale in Taiwan's military will be low and the officers 
and troops cannot be sure how firm the political leadership will be in resisting Chinese 
military aggression 
when it comes. 

Taiwan's president is not just the chief executive officer of the central government 
and commander in chief of the armed forces, he is also the political and spiritual leader 
who is charged with the responsibility to protect the life, liberty and property of the 
citizens from outside assault. Chen should refrain from words and actions that will 
exacerbate the already dangerously confused sense of national identity among Taiwan's 
populace. He needs to enhance Taiwanese national consciousness by emphasizing the 
Taiwanese people's proud achievement in building a free-market democracy out of the 
ashes of the KMT autocracy and their common political and economic interests in 
maintaining a separate existence from the destitute and repressive People's Republic of 
China. 

Blind fear of China's growing military might and the pursuit of economic and political 
integration with Communist China will doom Taiwan to a bleak future of poverty, humiliation 
and servitude. In his speech to the Japanese Diet on Feb. 19, US President George W. 
Bush said: "America will remember our commitments to the people on Taiwan." In his 
State of the Union speech in January, Bush promised that the US will take the side of 
brave men and women who advocate democratic values. Taiwan's future can be bright, 
although not without sacrifices, only if the government and citizens are brave enough 
to stand up for their freedom, human rights and dignity. No citizen can pledge allegiance 
to both Taiwan and the People's Republic, an adversary which openly threatens to forcefully 
crush Taiwan's democracy. So it is legitimate to ask Chen: are you a Chinese or a 
Taiwanese?