Haitian poet Suze Baron, who immigrated to the US to work in nursing, expressed her concern about the state of her home country in They Say:
They say
human blood
enriches the soil
If it were so
if it were so
my friends
rice millet and corn
would be plenty
in Haiti.
Indeed, the Caribbean nation is on the precipice of anarchy, and little grows there.
Once a Spanish colony, Haiti was ceded to France in 1697. Due to a smallpox epidemic brought by European colonizers, the indigenous inhabitants were wiped out. France imported a large number of slaves from Africa who became the main population of the island.
After a slave uprising, Haiti became the first country in the region with a majority black population of former slaves to declare independence.
Compared with the neighboring Dominican Republic, Haiti seems to be politically and economically unstable. It has failed to establish an effective democratic system, and has been plagued by disasters.
During the Age of Sail, European empires expanded their colonies. After the US declared independence, other colonies of the British Empire followed, most of which became democratic countries.
The advancement of democracy in former Spanish, Portuguese and French colonies in the Americas was less successful.
Looking at the democratization of former colonies, the British Empire’s legacy of the rule of law seems to have had a great effect.
This can be seen in former British colonies such as India, Singapore and Hong Kong, which outshine other post-colonial nations and territories that had made a similar transition.
The instability caused by dictatorships often harms the value of independence even more than colonization. In many of the revolutions labeled as “liberation,” the desire for power by ambitious revolutionaries has led to another kind of disaster.
Political instability in turn affects economic development, and the vicious circle continues.
In nations where people have grown used to being colonized, the meaning of “liberation” often becomes politically arbitrary in the struggle for power.
Some newly independent countries have become their own masters, but they do not yet look like it.
Taiwan was ceded to Japan by the Manchu Qing Dynasty. After 50 years of confusion about its own motherland, it became a part of the Republic of China (ROC) in 1945.
The ROC was the first democratic republic in Asia, but after its establishment in 1912, it was never stable. From 1928 to 1949, when it was replaced by the People’s Republic of China, there were only 21 years of real unification.
The ROC did not truly stabilize until after its exile to Taiwan. After the Martial Law era under the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) long-term “party-state” rule, the country gradually transformed into the “ROC in Taiwan” through a quiet revolution since its first transfer of power at the beginning of the new century.
However, the new ROC has yet to be normalized in the face of the Chinese threat externally, and the abandonment of an exilic mentality. Today, chaotic politics inhibits national development. For those who live in Taiwan and are on the path of democracy, look at China and the world. There are lessons to be learned.
Lee Min-yung is a poet.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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
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
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
I have heard people equate the government’s stance on resisting forced unification with China or the conditional reinstatement of the military court system with the rise of the Nazis before World War II. The comparison is absurd. There is no meaningful parallel between the government and Nazi Germany, nor does such a mindset exist within the general public in Taiwan. It is important to remember that the German public bore some responsibility for the horrors of the Holocaust. Post-World War II Germany’s transitional justice efforts were rooted in a national reckoning and introspection. Many Jews were sent to concentration camps not