written by Karen Lin and edited by Melanie Kuo and Myint Theingi
Since 1949, Taiwan, also officially known as the Republic of China, has been governed independently away from mainland China after separating itself from its mainland. However, Beijing still regards Taiwan as part of China under the “One China Principle,” although China only has control over the mainland and not Taiwan. China has viewed Taiwan as a province, while people in Taiwan sees its island with its own democratically elected government.
The separation of Taiwan from China stemmed from a meeting between the Chinese leader, Chiang Kai-shek of the Nationalist Party, and the Communist leader, Mao Tse-tung in the southwestern city of Chongqing as World War II approached an end in 1945. During the subsequent year, a civil war between the Nationalists and the Communists began, which eventually split Taiwan and China apart. This led to the Nationalists fleeing to Taiwan and establishing a government there after being defeated by the Chinese communists, and the mainland has been Communist-ruled since then. Despite Taiwan having established its own government for six decades, it has never declared its own independence from China. Not only do the leaders in Beijing still regard Taiwan as part of its territory, but they also hope that the island can someday be reunited with the mainland.
Continuously, there have been many disagreements between Taipei and Beijing regarding Taiwan’s status. China has always claimed Taiwan as its territory because there is only “one China”. The 1992 Consensus states that both Beijing and Taipei agreed that Taiwan belongs to China, which, by definition, means there’s only “one China”. Although Taiwan’s Kuomintang (KMT) political party still accepts the consensus as a starting point to negotiate with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the future, the current president of Taiwan and the leader of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Tsai Ing-wen, rejected the consensus. Rejecting this consensus can also possibly lead to independence for Taiwan in the future.
Despite the conflicted history between China and Taiwan, their economic ties continue to thrive. Taiwan’s largest trading partner is China, which accounts for nearly 30 percent of Taiwan’s total trade. In 2018, the trade between the two countries accumulated up to $150.5 billion, a large increase from their trade of $35 billion in 1999. Additionally, both countries had an agreement to allow banks, insurers, and other financial service providers to work in both markets.
Although the economic ties between the mainland and the island maintain strong, many Taiwanese people tend to view the mainland in a negative way overall, with about 61 percent of them doing so when it comes to both economic and political relations between the two countries. According to the Pew Research Center, about 44 percent of Taiwanese people oppose closer economic relations with mainland China, while only about 52 percent support this. Likewise, the majority of Taiwanese people, with about 60 percent, are also opposed to closer political relations with the mainland, while only about 36 percent support this.
In contrast to China, the U.S. overall is perceived more favorably among many Taiwanese people, with about 68% of people perceiving the U.S. as favorable, while only about 29% don’t. Taiwanese people, in general, support closer economic ties with the U.S. than China, with about 85% of people supporting the economic ties as opposed to the 11% who don’t. In terms of Taiwan’s political ties with the U.S., about 79% of them are in favor of closer political ties with the U.S. as opposed to the 18% who are unfavorable of it.
Overall, despite mainland China still claiming Taiwan as its own territory after the two separated in 1949, numerous people in Taiwan wish to stay apart from the mainland and maintain their own independent government and democracy, especially because the mainland is ruled by the CCP. Although the majority of Taiwanese people are against China politically, their economic ties with the mainland still remain strong even though many also oppose this relation.
Sources:
Cover Photo by Li Yang on Unsplash
Albert, E. (2020, January 22). China-Taiwan Relations. Retrieved January 08, 2021, from https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/china-taiwan-relations
Devlin, K., & Huang, C. (2020, December 10). How People in Taiwan View Mainland China and the U.S. Retrieved January 11, 2021, from https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2020/05/12/in-taiwan-views-of-mainland-china-mostly-negative/
How China and Taiwan split: A look back, as leaders meet. (2015, November 6). Retrieved January 08, 2021, from https://timelines.latimes.com/la-fg-china-taiwan-relations-timeline/
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