Notes on Why Taiwan: (1) introduction

Why Taiwan? Alan Wachman wonders, as many others, why China has such an interest in taking Taiwan? Some would say it's for the sacred territorial integrity of China, but China didn't pay equal attention to other areas such as Mongolia or Arunachal Pradesh where China had disputes with neighboring countries. Wachman argues that Taiwan is considered significant and inseparable for geopolitical reasons; "Taiwan matters not only because of what it is, but because of where it is (p.32)." Here are some quotes from the book Why Taiwan? Geostrategic rationales for China's territorial integrity.

"Taiwan is one of those tracts of earth that has a 'history of ambiguity'. It has changed hands repeatedly and has been the focus of recurring struggles over identity, sovereignty and control. For the most part, since the seventeenth century, it has 'been defined as a small part of something else.' Taiwan, as Steven Phillips notes, has been administered as an overseas possession of a European power (1624-1661), an independent kingdom (1661-1683), a prefecture of a province (1684-1885), a province of an empire (1885-1895), a colony of a rival empire (1895-1945), and a province of a republic (1945-1949) (p.45)."

"For most of China's recorded history, the Chinese elite was largely unaware that the island even existed (p.46)."

"Qing territory waxed during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but waned from the nineteenth to the collapse of the dynasty in the early twentieth century. To state that the PRC now inhabits the territories of the Qing is misleading (p.49)."

"In the case of Taiwan, the dominant motive for expansion was not security, per se, but 'take it or it will be taken'. The Qing decision to take the island was justified by a policy of strategic denial intended to ensure that Taiwan did not fall into hostile, foreign hands and then become a threat to security (p.49)."

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