Don Rodgers shares thoughts on the history and cultures of China and Taiwan.
It’s not hard to get confused about the difference in China and Taiwan. Entire books have been written solely about this topic and things are unsettled to say the least. In the 1940s, civil war broke out between Communist forces led by Mao Zedong and the Republic of China or Kuomintang (KMT) forces led by Chiang Kaishek. Mao’s Communist Party won and formed the People’s Republic of China in 1949 in mainland China. Chiang and the KMT fled to Taiwan. Both entities claimed to own or control each body of land and both claimed to be China. The Republic of China abandoned their claim in the early 1990s, explained Don Rodgers, Austin College associate professor of political science.
The native Taiwanese people were more or less invaded by the KMT, but over the years Taiwan has gradually developed into a more liberalized and democratic state from one-party rule under the KMT. In 1996, Taiwan became a true democratic state when the country held its first popular vote to elect President LeeTeng-hui. “Taiwanese identity has surpassed Chinese identity on Taiwan, and this factor has significant impact on relations between the two sides,” said Don Rodgers, assistant professor of political science. The majority of people in Taiwan identify themselves as Taiwanese, not Chinese, and the majority prefer maintenance of the status quo in the short term and independence in the long term.” The relationship between China and Taiwan will be an important issue for coming decades.