More than 100,000 people took to the streets yesterday to promote calling Taiwan "Taiwan" -- once again demonstrating Taiwan's active quest for democracy and its willingness to reflect on its past.
One important lesson to be learned from the fact that this demonstration could be carried out without a hitch is that Taiwan -- having lived through decades of democracy activism and completed many systemic reforms -- is entering the last and most difficult stage of democratic reform.
Taiwan has been under colonial rule for more than 400 years. Since 1895 it has had 50 years of Japanese rule and more than 40 years of colonial-style rule by the alien KMT. This has for a long time caused people to lack identification with the land and the nation.
This was the reason why former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) proposed the "self-awareness" (主體性) concept, prompting people to reflect on their national identity. The emergence of a specifically Taiwanese identity and its formalization in national institutions is the great reform Lee was unable to complete during his 12 years as the nation's leader.
Taiwan has its own military, territory and constitution. Its people can choose its legislators and president in direct and free elections. There is local self-rule, economic freedom and the rights of free speech and publication. There is an independent judiciary.
All these things meet the requirements of an independent, sovereign nation. Yet, internationally speaking, Taiwan is not a legal entity. When its citizens travel abroad they are asked where they are from and about the name of their country. The key to all these problems is Lee's unfinished final reform.
The significance of the movement to rectify the name of Taiwan does not lie in Taiwan's independence or unification with China. It is a movement to bring about self-awareness, urging the entire Taiwanese community to examine their common fate seriously. It is the ultimate and inescapable issue faced by everyone living on the island, whether they are indigenous peoples or mainlanders, Fukienese or Hakka. It may take a while before we can settle on a name we all agree on, yet we have to realize the disagreements and conflicts that exist between our country's name and the entity it represents.
Those whose families came from Fukien province want to change our country's name to Taiwan. Taiwan is, after all, where the vast majority of us live; the choice of name simply reflects this reality.
Those who oppose the campaign to call Taiwan Taiwan insist that the nation's official name is the Republic of China (ROC), despite that fact that Taiwan was not part of the ROC at its founding nor was sovereignty ever transferred to the ROC at a later date. The ROC name is in fact a symbol of Taiwan colonial tutelage. Since the colonial past cannot itself be defended, the excuse of those who oppose a name change is that it's too difficult for us to use "Taiwan" as the official name of the nation in light of today's international political situation. This logic has confused cause and effect. It's also a defeatist attitude cultivated by the KMT's rule over the past half century.
Rectifying the name of Taiwan is the beginning of the last phase of the nation's democratic reform. It is foreseeable that this mission will take much more energy and time. Although yesterday's march went off smoothly and peacefully, most participants were local senior Taiwanese from southern Taiwan -- showing that the nation's young generation is cool towards politics and has a weak national identity.
Demonstrations cannot solve these problems. We need to start from the root -- our educational system -- and allow our youth to get a clear picture of Taiwan's history and reflect on their relationship with this land.
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