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At issue is the question of identity. Most mainlanders are proud of being Chinese, of their shared cultural background and long history, of their collective identity. To them, it is obvious that the people of Taiwan share this same background, history and identity. Therefore, it is natural that they should belong to a single nation.
Throughout its 60 years in power, the Chinese Communist Party has worked to build a unified identity among the Chinese people. For most of that period, the ruling Kuomintang in Taiwan had the same attitude. Chiang Kai-shek and his son Chiang Ching-kuo both envisioned an eventual reunification of the island with the mainland.
However, in the past eight years, under the DPP, Taiwan has been seeking a "special political status," even going so far as to propose that it should be an independent nation. This is a deviation from the historical track. Taiwan has always been closely attached to China in different dynasties, either as a special region or a province. Mainlanders and islanders have shared a common heritage, including the same language, festivals and folk tales.
Therefore, a permanent political separation cannot be accepted by most mainlanders. Many Taiwanese also do not go along with this.
However, the people of Taiwan have different backgrounds and different experiences, which, if emphasized, lead to different collective identities. Rather than stressing the unity of the Taiwanese people, the DPP has fostered division among the island's people, confusing the issue of their Chinese identity.
The greatest division is between those who consider themselves "native islanders" (who have lived on the island for generations) and those who the native people call "outsiders" (who came from mainland China in the 1940s, during the civil war).
Of course, the children of "outsiders" are Taiwan-born and resent this label, as they consider themselves to be fully as "Taiwanese" as the natives.
The DPP has encouraged the division of the Taiwanese people into these two groups and sided with those who consider themselves "natives" in an effort to establish a separate Taiwanese identity, in order to justify a separate "Taiwan nation." This position has not held up in the international community, however, which continues to regard Taiwan as part of China.
At the Cairo Conference in 1943 and the Potsdam Conference in 1945, the Allied governments confirmed that Taiwan, having been taken from China by the Japanese, would be returned to Chinese sovereignty upon Japan's surrender. The unity of the Chinese nation has been consistently acknowledged by the United Nations, although U.N. recognition of the legitimate ruler of the nation was changed from the Kuomintang to the Communist Party in 1971. That is why U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon immediately rejected the application submitted recently to the United Nations, asking that Taiwan be allowed to join the organization as a member state. This can never be possible, as Taiwan is not a sovereign state.
The DPP is likely to push the independence issue to the limit ahead of the election next March. Unfortunately, this could lead to a strong response from Beijing. The United States -- which both sides view as playing a decisive role in the cross-Straits issue -- has been attempting to keep a balance and calling for the maintenance of the status quo. However, this situation cannot endure forever, as it does not meet the wishes of either side.
The divisive tactics of the DPP are not serving the interests of the Chinese people or the international community. Recognizing the common collective identity of the people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits is the first step toward a peaceful resolution of the current situation. Acknowledging that, additional steps can be taken toward a peaceful reunification of the divided nation that will serve the interests of both sides.
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(Zhang Quanyi is an associate professor at the Zhejiang Wanli University in Ningbo, China, and a PhD candidate at Shanghai International Studies University, studying policy making and collective identity. He is currently a research fellow at the School of International Studies at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea, under a grant by the Korea Foundation. He can be contacted at qyzhangupi@yahoo.com. ©Copyright Zhang Quanyi.)
