By: a HISTOYOUTH Writer
For decades, East Asia’s pacific coast has been a hotbed of diplomatic and military tension. In the north, North Korea is testing their nuclear capabilities, firing into the Sea of Japan. In the South China Sea, overlapping territorial claims have been the source of contention between various South East Asian states and China. But right in between the nuclear tests and overlapping territorial claims lies the island of Taiwan and the behemoth that is China, partitioned by the narrow Taiwan Strait. The story of China and Taiwan is a complex one—a nation of people caught in a rift between opposing political systems.
This past week, China conducted military drills around Taiwan, simulating the encirclement and blockade of the island. It was largely seen in response to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s return to the island after a meeting in Los Angeles, with US House of Representatives Speaker McCarthy. During the most recent drill, more than 50 Chinese planes crossed the unofficial median line between the two.
It's imperative to understand the root of this tense situation, and China’s complex geopolitical situation, to fully understand where China and Taiwan stand today. After the first Sino-Japanese war, China, ruled at the time under the Qing Dynasty, ceded Taiwan to Japan in 1895. But after the end of the second world war in 1945, and the collapse of Japan’s imperial empire, the island was returned to China. However, the country was undergoing a brutal civil war, between Mao Zedong’s Communist forces and Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist forces. In 1949, the Communists emerged victorious and took Beijing. Chiang Kai-shek’s defeated nationalist party—known as the Kuomintang—fled to Taiwan to establish their own government. In 1949, The People’s Republic of China, established a communist government on the mainland, while the Republic of China in Taiwan was established as a one-party state (it wasn’t until 1987 that democratic reforms established a constitutional democracy on the island).
To this day, the government’s of The People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China claim to be the ‘true’ China, and both lay claim to Taiwan and the mainland. As it stands, Beijing sees Taiwan as a rebel province, while Taiwan sees itself as a government in exile.
Today, the status of Taiwan is up in the air. While many nations, including the US, recognize The People’s Republic of China, they continue to have unofficial relations with the island, something which China has denounced over the decades. As it stands, thirteen countries recognize the Taiwanese Government, excluding countries that maintain unofficial relations with the island. As a matter of fact, the use of the name ‘Taiwan’ is controversial by many, with Taiwanese athletes competing under ‘Chinese Taipei’ at the Olympics and many international sporting competitions.
Chinese planes encircling the island, and Taiwan’s persistence to remain out of the hands of Beijing is the scar of a seventy-year-old civil war. The story of Taiwan and China is yet again, another example of opposing political systems tearing a people apart. The situation is echoed in Korea, with the communist north and capitalist south, and was the reality between East and West Germany, and North and South Vietnam decades ago.
The split between Taiwan and China in 1949, and its continuity into the present, serves as a chilling and grim reminder of the power politics has to divide, rather than unite. And the division seems to only be growing.
Works Cited
Brown, By David. “China and Taiwan: A Really Simple Guide.” BBC News, 12 Jan. 2022, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-59900139. Accessed 13 Apr. 2023.
Johnson, Jesse. “China Ends Military Drills after Practicing Blockade of Taiwan.” The Japan Times, 10 Apr. 2023, https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/04/10/asia-pacific/china-taiwan-military-exercises-day-three/. Accessed 13 Apr. 2023.
Lee, Ben Blanchard Yimou. “China Ends Taiwan Drills after Practising Blockades, Precision Strikes.” Reuters, 10 Apr. 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-following-chinas-taiwan-drills-with-great-interest-2023-04-10/. Accessed 13 Apr. 2023.
Skiver, Kevin. “Why Is Taiwan Called Chinese Taipei in the World Baseball Classic?” Sporting News, 25 Feb. 2023, https://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/taiwan-chinese-taipei-world-baseball-classic/sqnsvwxbif0bbuekzcy8fk2p. Accessed 13 Apr. 2023.
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