A new debate on the national flag is taking place in Taiwan. The battle lines are predictable: the KMT and James Soong's (宋楚瑜) PFP are clinging to the old flag, brought over from China in 1945, while the TSU and significant parts of the DPP are in favor of a new flag that represents the new, democratic Taiwan.
It is good to take a step back and see how this issue is perceived by the international community, particularly the US and Europe. Overseas observers, governments and parliaments see Taiwan in a positive light because of its recent democratization, but the US and Europe can't bring themselves to normalize relations with Taiwan because of pressure from China.
This pressure is deep-rooted, primarily in the civil war fought from the 1920s through 1949 between the Chinese Communists and the KMT of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石). To the Chinese, the KMT and the ROC flag became symbols of that decades-long conflict.
Taiwan went through its democratic transformation in the 1980s and 1990s, which culminated in the election of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in March 2000. However, the new government took on the shell of the old system, including its symbols, such as the 1947 Constitution, the 1911 "made in China" flag and the equally outdated anthem -- a 1928 KMT song.
It is clear that those symbols have little to do with present-day Taiwan -- they are left-over attributes of the KMT's days in China. While it is perhaps understandable that the KMT old guard wants to cling to them out of a fast-disappearing sense of security, it would be wise for Taiwan to move to a new set of symbols.
The reasons are as follows: As long as Taiwan clings to symbols that are associated with the old civil war, it is a reminder that this civil war is not quite finished. For closure, it is necessary that these symbols are buried. An even more important reason is to find a new flag, anthem and Constitution that truly represent the new Taiwan. This process may take a few years, but it is an essential part of becoming a "new" nation. In the case of the US, it took 11 years -- from the 1776 Declaration of Independence to the 1787 Constitutional Convention. The US national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner, wasn't written until 1814.
The old symbols represent only the KMT. Present-day Taiwan is made up of Aborigines, the Hakka- and Hokkien-speaking population, as well as the mainlanders who came over after 1945.
For Taiwan to survive, they all need to identify with the new Taiwan and evolve into a new identity that is truly Taiwanese in nature.
From the international perspective, it is also necessary to develop a new Taiwanese identity.
As long as Taiwan continues to present itself as the ROC, the international community will be forced -- by the "one China" dictum -- to maintain the line that only informal, economic and cultural ties are possible.
Only when Taiwan states clearly and unequivocally that it distances itself from the ROC identity, and presents itself as a new and democratic nation, will it be able to open the doors toward full recognition and diplomatic relations.
A fair and open debate about the national flag and anthem would be a good start.
Gerrit van der Wees and Mei-chin Chen are editors of Taiwan Communique, an international publication dedicated to democracy in Taiwan and full and equal membership of Taiwan in the international community.
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
In an article published on this page on Tuesday, Kaohsiung-based journalist Julien Oeuillet wrote that “legions of people worldwide would care if a disaster occurred in South Korea or Japan, but the same people would not bat an eyelid if Taiwan disappeared.” That is quite a statement. We are constantly reading about the importance of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), hailed in Taiwan as the nation’s “silicon shield” protecting it from hostile foreign forces such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and so crucial to the global supply chain for semiconductors that its loss would cost the global economy US$1
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
Sasha B. Chhabra’s column (“Michelle Yeoh should no longer be welcome,” March 26, page 8) lamented an Instagram post by renowned actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) about her recent visit to “Taipei, China.” It is Chhabra’s opinion that, in response to parroting Beijing’s propaganda about the status of Taiwan, Yeoh should be banned from entering this nation and her films cut off from funding by government-backed agencies, as well as disqualified from competing in the Golden Horse Awards. She and other celebrities, he wrote, must be made to understand “that there are consequences for their actions if they become political pawns of