In 2000, Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), a member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was elected president. Before that, Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), a Taiwanese and a member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), pushed through a quiet revolution during his 12 years as president.In Taiwan’s history of political changes, revolution has been praised for not being bloody. While this is a good thing, there is also a fragile side to it.
Revolution does not necessarily demand bloodshed, but reforming the system is more important than reform within the system. It requires structural changes and the creation of new values. Taiwan has entered an era when public office is won through election, but if the elections are only intended as a way to maintain the fragmented, empty remainders of the Republic of China (ROC), then China, “the other,” will fall into the trap of reform. Normalizing the state that exists in Taiwan is a kind of revolution.
From 2000 to 2008, Chen served two presidential terms as the DPP won back-to-back elections, but in the end, they were nothing more than a caretaker government for the KMT, and it was followed by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and the restoration to power of the KMT. Not only did that event bring an end to the efforts to rebuild Taiwan, it also took the nation back in time. During Ma’s tenure, the ROC’s status — both as a country and not — has developed into a lie, while China is becoming ever more strident in its demands to annex Taiwan.
For Taiwan to be recognized as a country while named the Republic of China requires a revolutionary change. The 23 million people living in Taiwan should cast off all the conflicts remaining from the Chinese Civil War between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and write a new constitution and build a solidly sovereign nation. This is the dream of a new nation that people who still live the dream of the ROC and Taiwanese all want and strive for.
After the 228 Incident, which began on Feb. 27, 1947, the Taiwanese independence movement began to take shape. It developed overseas with a political goal to develop a culture of calling on the participation of all Taiwanese, regardless of when they arrived here, in the construction of a shared community of free people.
Within this movement, Su Beng (史明) has shared unique visions. The political, economic and national visions in his book Taiwan’s 400-Year History (台灣人四百年史), the perseverance of his long life and his unselfishness are not just matters of history, they are a reality. Chen Lih-kuei (陳麗貴) directed The Revolutionist (革命進行式), a documentary about Su that was released yesterday. The film is of great documentary value and it is also dramatic in its description of Su’s life.
With his revolutionary sentiment, his leftist leanings, his closeness to the grassroots and his mass appeal, Su, always wearing a denim jacket, has used his life to build a revolutionary vantage point. On Feb. 18 last year, members of the Sunflower movement paid him their respects. The Revolutionist will move and enlighten the people of this country and put Taiwan on the right path, moving in the right direction.
Lee Min-yung is a poet.
Translated by Perry Svensson
The return of US president-elect Donald Trump to the White House has injected a new wave of anxiety across the Taiwan Strait. For Taiwan, an island whose very survival depends on the delicate and strategic support from the US, Trump’s election victory raises a cascade of questions and fears about what lies ahead. His approach to international relations — grounded in transactional and unpredictable policies — poses unique risks to Taiwan’s stability, economic prosperity and geopolitical standing. Trump’s first term left a complicated legacy in the region. On the one hand, his administration ramped up arms sales to Taiwan and sanctioned
The Taiwanese have proven to be resilient in the face of disasters and they have resisted continuing attempts to subordinate Taiwan to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Nonetheless, the Taiwanese can and should do more to become even more resilient and to be better prepared for resistance should the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) try to annex Taiwan. President William Lai (賴清德) argues that the Taiwanese should determine their own fate. This position continues the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) tradition of opposing the CCP’s annexation of Taiwan. Lai challenges the CCP’s narrative by stating that Taiwan is not subordinate to the
World leaders are preparing themselves for a second Donald Trump presidency. Some leaders know more or less where he stands: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy knows that a difficult negotiation process is about to be forced on his country, and the leaders of NATO countries would be well aware of being complacent about US military support with Trump in power. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would likely be feeling relief as the constraints placed on him by the US President Joe Biden administration would finally be released. However, for President William Lai (賴清德) the calculation is not simple. Trump has surrounded himself
US president-elect Donald Trump is to return to the White House in January, but his second term would surely be different from the first. His Cabinet would not include former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo and former US national security adviser John Bolton, both outspoken supporters of Taiwan. Trump is expected to implement a transactionalist approach to Taiwan, including measures such as demanding that Taiwan pay a high “protection fee” or requiring that Taiwan’s military spending amount to at least 10 percent of its GDP. However, if the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) invades Taiwan, it is doubtful that Trump would dispatch
RSS