Why China wants Taiwan?

Hi friends! The news around US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan and China retaliating with military operations in Taiwan has brought the China-Taiwan issue to the forefront again. China has started a full-on military operation and a boycott of Taiwan post Nancy Pelosi’s visit. But why is that so? What is the issue of China-Taiwan exactly? And why should Taiwan bear the cost of Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the country with a war?Let us understand better.

Why is China obsessed with Taiwan?

Taiwan is an island in the South China Sea. It is around 36,000 km sq in area. Taiwan is roughly 161 km away from Mainland China and the two are separated by the Taiwan Strait. 

But to understand why China considers Taiwan its own, we need to go back to the history of the two countries. 

Taiwan finds its first mention in Chinese records in 239 AD, when a Chinese emperor sent its men for an expedition. This may sound insignificant but the fact is that the Chinese government still uses this reason to say that Taiwan is still a part of China. 

From 1624-1661, Taiwan was a Dutch colony. From 1683-1895, it was ruled over by a Chinese dynasty, called the Qing dynasty. During this tenure, many migrants came from Mainland China to Taiwan, especially from this red-colored region. Most Chinese descendants in Taiwan hail from this region even today and are counted as the largest demographic group of Taiwan.

In 1895, the Sino-Japanese war occurred between China and Japan, and Japan emerged victorious in the war. Taiwan went to the Japanese post this war. 

Then in the year 1912, the Qing dynasty was overthrown during the Xinhai Revolution in China. The Republic of China was then established in mainland China. Taiwan, during that time belonged to Japan. It was only after World War 2, that Japan lost the war and had to leave the territory of Taiwan. 

The Second World War was won by the Allies having UK, USA and China as well. So, post the war, the Republic of China was given control of Taiwan with UK and USA agreeing for the same. 

In February 1947, huge and fiery anti-government protests erupted in Taiwan, and the Chinese government responded with a Jallianwala Bagh like massacre. It is estimated that 18,000-28,000 people were killed in these protests/revolution. 

Then in the years 1947-49, a civil war in mainland China was observed, where the Communist army led by Mao Zedong defeated the then leader King Chiang Kai Shek, and formed the People's Republic of China (PRC).

The political party of Chiang Kai Shek, KMT, had around 1.5 million supporters that run away to Taiwan after the defeat, in the year 1949. In Taiwan, these supporters representing the party KMT form a government in exile, in Taiwan. This government remained in Taiwan for 25 years, after which Chiang Kai Shek’s son Chiang Ching Kuo became the leader. Now, since the KMT party used to rule Mainland China before their defeat by the Communists, they still were under the impression that mainland China still belonged to them and they will rightfully claim it even when they had now been restricted to Taiwan. 

Now during the 1960-70 Cold War, USA(Capitalist) vs USSR(Communist), USA did not support the Communist government in China, and the UNSC seat in the United Nations was given to the government of the ROC party in Taiwan led by Chiang Ching Kuo, and it was recognized by many western nations as representing the Chinese government. By the end of 1970, many countries started arguing against this, they questioned how a small government of an island can be assumed to represent such a large country like China. Following this, the UN in 1971 changed its decision and let the main Communist government in China take the seat in the UNSC representing the Chinese government. 

In 1976, Mao Dezong was replaced with a new ruler Deng Xiaoping, who is known to be more liberal. He introduced economic reforms in China in 1978. This paved the way for the US to think that communism has now faded away in China. They then formed diplomatic ties with China in 1979. 

The Chinese government in mainland China claimed that all of it is under them, including Taiwan. So did many other countries. They assumed what China was saying was correct and thus very few countries recognized Taiwan as independent. Presently, only 15 countries recognize Taiwan as an independent country. 

But what differentiated Taiwan from China?

The growth of democracy. After dictator Chang Ching Kuo passed away, in 1988, Lee- Teng Hui became Taiwan’s new President. He brought about constitutional changes. He is known as the Father of Democracy in Taiwan. Eventually, in the year 2000, elections were conducted in Taiwan and for the first time, a non-KMT President, Chen Shui Bian was elected. 

At the same time, there were efforts to bring democracy to China as well. In 1989, China was very close to adopting democracy. There were thousands of students protesting on roads, demanding for freedom but under the Communist government, the Chinese military had open-fired. Thousands were arrested in an effort to suppress the revolution. 

In the year 2000, when Taiwan became democratic while China was still being ruled by the Communist government, China proposed Taiwan a system of - One country, two systems under which Taiwan would be integrated into China but would continue to work independently as a government. Taiwan rejected this offer. 

In 2000, Chen Shui Bian openly said that his party wanted complete independence from China. The KMT party still wants Taiwan to reunify with China. But in 2016, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the elections in Taiwan and was re-elected in 2020, continuing to want independence from China.

In the midst of all this, one significant question is- what do the people of Taiwan actually want? 

According to the latest surveys, 64% residents of Taiwan identify themselves as Taiwanese, 30% people identify as both Chinese and Taiwanese and only 2.4% people identify as only Chinese. Less than 10% of people in Taiwan actually want a re-unification with China. So, the move to reunify kind of makes little sense. 

The history of both countries separated after the 1950s. While there was a communist revolution in one place, there were democratic reforms in the other. China is still under a dictatorship with little freedom, Taiwan is actually counted as one of the best democracies in Asia and ranks even better than India. 

How did the stance of America change?

In the 1970s, as we talked earlier, America’s stance took a U-turn. The USA had started building its diplomatic relations with China, thinking communism had faded away. But in reality, USA had maintained distance from both countries. In 1979, a legislation was passed in the USA saying that if China ever invaded Taiwan, American forces would be deployed to help Taiwan. 

Over the last few years, the USA's stance has again shifted towards Taiwan. America maintains unofficial relations with Taiwan. America sells weapons to Taiwan under the Taiwan Relations Act, so that Taiwan can defend itself but it has also said that it does not support Taiwan’s independence. 

This stance looks confusing, but it is simple. America believes in One China Policy, it supports peaceful reunification but if China forcibly tries to take over Japan, the US military will intervene. 

But coming specifically to Nancy Pelosi, her stance has been even clearer. She has been a firm believer of democracy in China when the pro-democracy and anti-government protests broke out.

But, why is China still so obsessed with Taiwan till date?

The answer to this lies in one person- Xi Jinping. In 2018, the Chinese government passed a law that the two-term limit for the President would be removed. This meant that Xi Jinping could be the President for the third term as well. Xi Jinping has tried to crush all his opponents. He suppressed anyone who’d stand against him. He introduced his ideology into the Communist Party. He has manipulated the Chinese citizens at his will. This has led to several economic and developmental crises in China. The 20th National Congress is scheduled to be held in a couple of months in China, where Xi Jinping will fight to get his term extended and to remain in power. In such a case, as an image building move, he is using this muscle flexing against Taiwan. 

Like the crisis in Ukraine is more of a war between Vladimir Putin and Ukraine, the Taiwan crisis is also a tension between Xi Jinping and Taiwan. But if these tensions escalate into a war-like situation, the world will suffer dire consequences, worse than what happened in the Russia-Ukraine War. The number of products exported by China and Taiwan are significantly more, with several industries across the world relying on these two countries. And if the US and Japan join in with their militaries, this can indeed turn into a full-fledged war. The hope is that it should not happen.

Until then, keep reading! Cheers! :)