Why "Why Taiwan?"

Several things bothered me and they eventually made their way to this blog.

1. Type "中國 台灣" (China Taiwan) in Google's search and you'll get a website claiming to be non-governmental, at www dot chinataiwan dot org. It deals with the news about Taiwan but it's done according to China's imagination instead of facts. Everything about Taiwan is put in the frame of being a province of China, and it goes so far as to list the leaders Wen Jiabao, Hu Jingtao, and PRC's national flags as well as other symbols in the section "political system & state organs" of Taiwan.

The website is full of lies yet it ranks as number one in Google. That's no surprise because according to the Washington Post, the total number of Internet users in China exceeded those in the U.S. and became the largest in March 2008. Chinese internet users link to each other and they are able to boost any dishonest website to number one. For this reason the address of the above-mentioned website is not given as a link. I don't want to contribute to its spreading.

2. Taiwanese students in Germany complain that some of them were noted as Chinese on their visas when they requested an extension. They tried to explain to the officer but it seems that it's pure luck that determines what they get. The same person might get a "Chinese" notice this time and a "Taiwanese" notice next time though he gave the same document and argument.

3. In the Chinese eMule website VeryCD, when you register you'll have to agree to PRC's laws which forbid "to encourage the subversion of the PRC government or socialism", "to compromise the unification of the peoples and encourage the cession", or "to impair the reputation of the country," etc. These authoritarian laws are used to deprive people of their freedom of speech. Taiwanese used to have similar ones but we got rid of them so I didn't register because I don't feel like bending to them. Some Taiwanese did and I see their IDs are with a small flag. That's the flag Taiwan was forced to use in the Olympic Games. Needless to say, all other nationalities get national flags in their IDs. And needless to say, when I searched for the documentary about Hu Jia, an AIDS activist arrested and convicted by the PRC; or "The Gate of Heavenly Peace (Tiananmen)", the results are all irrelevant items.

4. EU refused to sell weapons to PRC after 1989 but now as time goes by and China's economy rises, EU is considering doing it.

5. Bush administration borrows so much money from China so now China owns the U.S.

6. When Ma Ying-jeou was elected as president, all English newspapers focused on the possible improvement of the cross-Strait relationship; and when Chen Shui-bien was heavily criticized, it was interpreted as a failure caused by his aggressiveness on the independence of Taiwan. So it seems that Ma's success and Chen's failure is evidence that the Taiwanese are in favor of a closer relationship with PRC, which I think is misleading. Ma's success comes from his reputation of being clean and decent, and Chen's failure results from his arrogance and corruption. Some media such as NPR don't have a correspondent in Taiwan and the news of Taiwan is covered by their correspondents in China, which partly explains the pro-China frame and its blind spot of Taiwanese perspective.

And more, and more. The Chinese-speaking world is dominated by Chinese nationalism and censorship. The censorship is not only executed by the government but also supported earnestly by numerous Chinese "netizens": some of them leave messages expressing hatred, some of them post information of dissidents online and encourage harassment against these individuals, and some of them attack the server to paralyze the website. Psychologically China is stuck in the early 20th century when it was invaded by western countries and Japan. This is a person suffering from child abuse and now has grown into a giant, but still traumatized by the powerlessness in his childhood. It's a recipe for disaster when a powerful person fails to recognize the power he has now and feels righteous due to the pains he suffered.

It deserves sympathetic understanding. China has not got the justice it deserves. Compared with Germany who has reflected on the sins of WW2 in an almost masochistic way, Japan basically pretends nothing happened. The hatred between Asian countries is pretty much in the present tense. It could be the future tense if the luck goes against us. China itself had been an imperialist force before its misery. It became a victim of western and Japan imperialism and as a result, the imperialism of China has never been reflected upon. The kid was a bully before he was abused, but how can you hold the abused kid accountable for what he did before? The thing is, the grown-up seems to try to restore his life so he can again freely bully his neighbors.

The imperialism of China could be, if the luck goes against us, the future tense too.

Due to the huge difference between Taiwan and China in terms of the population and political power, I am pessimistic about the communication in the Chinese-speaking world. I notice that some Taiwanese websites try to exclude users in China in a subtle way. Some write Chinese with a lot of Taiwanese dialect, some don't allow the users to register with email addresses from 126.com which is popular in China, and some ask for posting done in Chinese traditional. But even if all Taiwanese come to speak the same thing, sigh, compared with 1.3 billion Chinese, it is still like a drop in the ocean.

The English-speaking world might be worth a try. It is not flooded with Chinese nationalism and might be more accommodating to dialogue and debate on the cross-Strait issue. The lack of understanding seems to be easier to tackle, compared with interest conflict; that's why I do the excerpts of "Why Taiwan?" Maybe it's not any easier, but it's something that a hermit crab like me can do.

People say that the Internet makes us to be able to shout louder but we don't know if others are listening or not. Well, who knows with this kind of thing. But what the heck, I'll shout and see.

I am not a nationalist and I don't fancy to be one. Taiwan is part of my existence and I don't appreciate it to be distorted, misinterpreted, or lied about. I have every right to use the national flag; it's my freedom to hang it up or to set it on fire.

I am writing here not as a fundamentalist in the independence of Taiwan, not as a Taiwanese nationalist, not as a patriot, not as a partisan, not as a supporter of the government (whichever), but as a sexual, political, and sexual political dissenter, who does not reduce her life to politics only.

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