I have to say, Taiwan is a relative blindspot for me. Don't really know much about its history and the present day foreign policy implications. All I know is that I see plenty of people, both liberals and conservatives, lamenting over what China might or might not do.
Can someone please provide a brief rundown of what's happening? What's the relevant history? What's going on in the present? What exactly is their relationship with China?
Taiwan was a native polynesian island for a long long time. then Chinese colonists started going over some time like 500 years ago iirc. during their imperial era Japan annexed Taiwan as Japanese Formosa. following the capitulation of Japan in ww2 it was given to the nationalist Republic of China, who were fighting Mao at the time. following the total collapse of the Chinese nationalist forces, they ran away to Taiwan. so the new Peoples Republic of China claims it as obviously a part of China, and Taiwan says they are still the whole of China who have sovereignty over all of China. the US uses Taiwan as a thorn in the side of the Peoples Republic of China because it is just off the coast of the mainland.
so it's basically the last remnants of a reactionary government the US has propped up for 70 years, that should rightfully be a part of China. China does not want to kill the people there, they see them as Chinese and under a false government that already lost the civil war, and they want Taiwan to 'rejoin' the whole of China. the US ofc are scared China might take Taiwan and the US would lose this very strategic position just off the coast that helps to 'encircle' China with US backed nations they can attack China from and contain Chinese influence.
So people living in Taiwain do in fact see themselves as part of China?
It's more complicated than that. There's a section of the population that still views themselves as native Taiwanese, and the mainlanders as an invasive force, and there's also a section that sees themselves as descended from China culturally, but as a separate nationality.
It's my understanding that "we're chinese, full stop" parties are KMT affiliated, generally represent the right-wing and the rich who want to continue investing in china (much like the west), whereas the DPP affiliated parties generally represent the left and the urban and rural poor, who are more likely to be closer to the native islanders and more skeptical of China. Though I'm sure that's an over simplification.
unfortunately, the native Taiwanese people are very very much a tiny minority compared to the Chinese. they were thoroughly genocided over several centuries. the population of Taiwan is 23 million, the native population is 500,000
yes, they see themselves as Chinese. they speak Mandarin, they write in traditional Chinese, the government is called The Republic of China, and the government claims to be the one and only legitimate Chinese government over the entire of China.
yeah it's more nuanced than just the KMT's line, but outwardly they still do officially claim to be the legitimate government of China and were recognised as so until the thaw of PRC relations with much of the west in the 70s. the line of them being an independent country is much like Hong Kong though in that they want to be independent to be an outpost of imperialism and to contain China. they are a part of China and an illegitimate government held up by imperialists
I don't think the PRC wants to invade. for one, it's obviously a really bad look and they do pride themselves on not having been at war for a long time unlike America. it would also be very violent and nobody wants that. eventually Taiwan is gonna capitulate to the mainland imo, the benefits outweigh the weakening US empire being there. Taiwan built itself up off of finance, an industry that is collapsing more and more, where the mainland has actual industrial and state capacity to do things
How Taiwan joined China: Before the European colonization there were few Chinese people in Taiwan. There were some in coastal fishing villages, but most of the people in Taiwan lived in tribes/chiefdoms/kingdoms that spoke austronesian languages. In early 1600s first the Spaniards then the Dutch arrived and began colonizing. The Dutch needed more labor and encouraged Chinese people from Fujian (province across the strait) to move to Taiwan to work as farmers and fur trappers.
In the late 1600s the Manchu invaded Ming Dynasty China. An admiral and Ming Dynasty loyalist invaded the Dutch colony (spanish had already left). He drove out the Dutch and established a base to continue fighting the Manchu from. He failed, the Manchu established the Qing dynasty and the Qing seized the Ming holdings in Taiwan. Immigration continued largely from Fujian. Many indigenous sinicized overtime, many others continued their lifestyle.
Japan period: The Japanese seized Taiwan (and other stuff) in late 19th century after defeating Qing dynasty in a war. There was resistance to Japanese which was brutally put down. The Japanese recognized the indigenous tribes, but strictly discouraged use of languages other than Japanese in school and government. Many very old people in Taiwan still know some Japanese because of this period.
KMT: The losing side of the Chinese civil war was the Republic of China (ROC). They were led by the far right pro-west KMT. The ROC fled to Taiwan with many supporters, soldiers, pro KMT refugees etc. There were many people in Taiwan who did not like this, some even supported the communists. Chiang Kai Shek, the president/dictator of the ROC, initiated the white terror where tens of thousands of anti-KMT people were killed and hundreds of thousands of others were imprisoned. Today, there is a lot of criticism of Chiang Kai Shek especially among young people.
The ROC maintained they were actually the legitimate government of China even as most nations, including their allies switched recognition the PRC. In fact, the ROC claims greater borders than the PRC does since the PRC negotiated disputed borders that reduced it's territory. Taiwan passports today still say ROC, the KMT logo is still on the Taiwan flag and many government buildings.
In the 1990s (after the KMT dictatorship ended) the PRC and ROC arrived at the One China Policy. This is also called the "consensus". They both agreed there was only one China even though they disagreed about which government was legitimate. Independent Taiwan is a line in the sand for the PRC, which they say if crossed would lead to war.
By this time there were many people in Taiwan who wanted to be separate from China. This is partly attributable to a hundred years of anti-communist propaganda, but also do to hostility engendered by the KMT's white terror. The US encouraged keeping Taiwan under ROC government because it was useful for Cold War (Taiwan has been referred to as "an unsinkable aircraft carrier").
There are few ways this attitude divides. Young people are much more pro independence, old people are not. The DPP party is pro-independence but would never make the move. The KMT party (who are in opposition currently) are against independence. As are some other conservative elements of society (like the military). Indigenous people in Taiwan tend to be pro-KMT and skeptical of the DPP and hence skeptical of independence. They often see the DPP as more narrowly interested in what's good for Hakka Chinese (the main han group that came from Fujian).
I'm sure I'm missing a lot of nuance, I'm not from Taiwan and I'm pretty much illiterate in Chinese and conversationally I'm incapable of discussing politics.
Legally Taiwan is very clearly part of China. It was illegally seized by the Japanese and then transferred to the control of the losing side of the Chinese civil war. Most of the people in Taiwan are ethnically and culturally Chinese and nearly everyone speaks/writes standard Chinese.
Imo, the only people in Taiwan who might have claim to independence are the indigenous people, but the pro-Independence movement in Taiwan is not about them; it's about Chinese people who now assert Taiwanese identity against Chinese identity. But, again, I'm sure I'm missing nuance.
Edit: presently, situation isn't much different than past. Both sides regularly saber rattle at each other, but many businessmen from Taiwan are heavily economically connected to mainland China. Many retired Taiwan military officers acknowledge they would lose in a conflict with China. Taiwanese independence supporters point to HK as their future if things don't change. Most mainland Chinese unequivocally reject Taiwan independence.
More like Puerto Rico or Hawaii, since there is no body of water protecting Florida.
Taiwan is a part of China. It is an island filled with the descendants of the losers of the Chinese civil war. As a part of taking over Taiwan, the losers colonized and wiped out most of the indigenous people who had lived on that island for centuries.
China allows Taiwan to be semi-self governing now, but forces other countries to not recognize it as an independent country because it is not.
Taiwan is the Texas of China!
Just dropping in to include that Taiwan had 38 years of martial law from the " Western backed democracy " of the kmt
Imagine if the confederacy fled to Puerto Rico after they lost the civil war
Ok China has civil war, current china won and losers fled to Taiwan (Taiwan having been abandoned by the current occupying force) Now Taiwan claims they deserved to win, and current China says "lol you lost your current land belongs to us too we just aren't bothering to take it"
