Taipei: Communist China’s creation seven decades ago irrevocably changed Taiwan, but Beijing’s huge celebrations this week will be met with a collective shrug on an island where people increasingly see themselves as distinct from the mainland.
After the People’s Republic of China was declared on 1 October 1949, its rival, the Republic of China, set up in Taiwan — the island Chiang Kai-shek’s defeated nationalists fled to and imposed their will upon.
Taiwan remains a sore point to this day among party leaders in Beijing — viewed as a missing piece of a geographical puzzle that must one day be completed, regardless of what the island’s 24 million inhabitants want. But for younger Taiwanese people such as Doris Cheng, the idea that her homeland is a part of mainland China is anathema. “Taiwan is a country,” the 16-year-old told AFP, while taking a break from practising hip-hop dance moves with friends in Taipei’s Liberty Square.
“Taiwan has autonomy, a government, our own people and territory.” Fellow dancer Stephanie Fu, an 18-year-old college freshman, agreed.
“I think it is natural that we see ourselves as Taiwanese, we were not born in China after all,” she said. “There’s no sense of belonging to China,” she added. “Culturally we may be Chinese and similar, but there are still differences.”
The Chinese communist party has never controlled Taiwan and historically mainland governments have exerted nominal control for only a fraction of the island’s history.
But Chinese president Xi Jinping has made no secret of his desire to see Taiwan brought into the mainland’s fold. (AFP)
