President Tsai Ing-wen and this emerging Taiwanese national identity, part four, “民族認同度又上升！近8成自認台灣人 中國人再下跌剩不到1成,” 自由时报 Liberty Times。 Taiwan Republic 台灣国, national identity, and world history classrooms. “台灣民意基金會週四發布「台灣人最新的民族認同」即時民調，結果顯示有高達76.8%自認為自己是台灣人，當中有58%屬「強烈認同」，18.8%屬「輕度認同」。至於自認為自己是中國人僅有6.6%（2.9%「強烈認同」），9.5%自認為自己是台灣人也是中國人。另外有5.2%表示沒意見，1.8%不知道或拒答。” Recent polling from Taiwan shows that a solid, governing majority of 76.8% of Taiwanese citizens identify themselves as “Taiwanese,” – 6.6% of residents of Taiwan identify themselves as “Chinese,” with 9.5% self-identifying as “both.”
National identity is dynamic and fluid – what is noteworthy about the Tsai era is how Tsai opened the door for pro-democracy and anti-communist non-green, non-DPP citizens to redefine what “status quo” entails. A lot of this is achieved because Dr. Tsai is a measured and moderate leader. Taiwan’s increased global status during her administration did not hurt – this increased, normalizing national status among the global democracies worked in tandem with the radicalization of the pro-China, anti-democracy China KMT (and later, the China People’s Party) inside Taiwan, as well as the belligerence and imperialism of dictator Xi and his Chinese communist regime.
Two other areas to ponder on how one develops one’s own national identity. Authoritarian, top-down Leninist parties like the China KMT and Chinese Communist Party obsess with brainwashing – education, propaganda, rules, threats, guilt trips, blood and soil nonsense. They cannot fathom that this emerging Taiwanese national identity can be organic and bottom-up – hence they accuse the ruling DPP of “brainwashing.” They only know what they practice themselves. Whereas in a globalized, cosmopolitan, diverse, and democratic nation like Taiwan, this emerging national identity is far more fluid and unpredictable. Twenty-three million citizens with diverse backgrounds and life experiences are connected to globalized media, with Taiwan as a top world trading partner, and tens of millions of students, businesspeople, and guest workers coming to and from Taiwan. Democratically elected leaders like Tsai and Lai may shape and respond to emerging national identity – they may even attempt to set boundaries, such as stipulating that the process ought to be peaceful democratic sovereignty. What authoritarians like Xi and Ma and Ke and others cannot countenance is that national identity in a democratic nation cannot be dictated from above.
And so while a poll like this is fascinating, it is also a snapshot subject to closer, careful interpretations – down to what it means to be “Taiwanese.” To be “Taiwanese” in 1945, in 1979, in 1996, and in 2024 would have recurring, consistent ideas, coupled with newer, evolving, changing meanings.
What President Tsai has not been given credit for is how she used the tools of statecraft to give Taiwan the necessary preconditions for realizable democratic sovereignty – military power, strategic alliances, international reputation, and economic health. Her most remarkable accomplishment with this emerging Taiwanese national identity, however, is the fact that in her highly successful eight-year terms, she has never once dictated what future Taiwanese citizens must choose regarding their nationhood. Authoritarians like the Chinese Communist Party, China KMT, the China People’s Party, or an authoritarian-reactionary ideology like Confucianism, presumed the right of the leaders/elders/elites to instruct their lessers/subjects and those who have yet to be born what they must and must not choose. This coheres well with the destructive blood and soil varieties of populist nationalism. President Tsai’s vision is democracy and human rights – the right of individual citizens to, without coercion, peacefully and democratically decide their fate. She has set an example that the US and much of Europe can learn from. 5.7.2024
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