Taiwan-Asia – Page 18 – Taiwan Insight

Colonial Nostalgia and the Delegitimisation of Pro-democracy Forces in Hong Kong and Taiwan

17 July 2023 Adrian Chiu

Written by Zeng Ee Liew. The term ‘colonial nostalgia’, or 戀殖 (lian zhi), has appeared more and more since the 2000s in the discourse used by Mainland China to describe the politicians or activists who advocate for democracy or even independence in both Taiwan and Hong Kong. Very often, those democracy or independence activists will be described as ‘traitors’ who still harbour lingering love or affection and pander to the former Western or Japanese colonial power and fail to show full patriotic love to the motherland. The use of such discourse can be seen from the lens of a broader effort by the Chinese government to delegitimise those pro-democracy activists, which will be explored further in this article.

Has Taiwan Escaped Nostalgia for Authoritarian Times? Taiwan and Regional Comparisons

14 July 2023 Adrian Chiu

Written by Brian Hioe. Contemporary Taiwan is often hailed as a beacon of democracy in the region. Namely, Taiwan today holds free and fair elections after transitioning from its authoritarian past, which saw a history of one-party rule by the KMT. In various indexes of democracy, Taiwan usually scores highly regarding freedom of the press, speech, and expression. Part of the reason why Taiwan scores highly in contemporary indexes of democracy may be to differentiate Taiwan from China at a time of rising tensions between Western powers and China, raising questions about whether this proves a way that the Cold War framing of “free China” has subtly made a comeback. The underlying pressure to differentiate Taiwan from China has always been a substrate of Taiwan’s modern politics, whether in the present or in authoritarian times.

Reflecting on the Laguna Woods Shooting Tragedy: One Year Later

20 June 2023

Written by Wayne Huang. On May 15, 2022, a fatal shooting occurred at the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, California. During a lunch reception, the gunman locked the doors and opened fire with approximately a hundred people present. The church has been recognised for its significant role in Taiwan’s democratisation and independence movements since the 1970s. It has led to the suspicion that this historical connection motivated the assailant to travel over a hundred miles from Las Vegas to target the church. The shooting resulted in six individuals being shot, including Dr John Cheng, who lost his life while attempting to disarm the gunman.

Taiwan’s 2024 presidential election candidates: What will Hou or Lai’s election mean for tensions across the Taiwan Strait?

6 June 2023 Adrian Chiu

Written by Corey Lee Bell. Taiwan’s main opposition party, the Beijing-friendly Kuomintang (KMT), recently selected its candidate for the 2024 presidential election. With the main competitors for Taiwan’s top job essentially locked in, each has been interrogated on their policies on cross-strait relations in recent weeks. With tensions high across the Taiwan Strait, and between Beijing and Washington, what each candidate stands for could have profound ramifications for, and perhaps even beyond, the Indo-Pacific region.

Japanese Colonial/Occupational Histories in the National Museums: A Comparison Between Taiwan and Singapore

5 April 2023

Written by Pin-Yi Li. In the postcolonial Asian context, national museums reflect the countries’ colonial histories and their transformation, offering the country’s incumbent political elites the opportunity to reinvent or adjust the initial museum discourses framed by the colonisers. For example, respectively built by the Japanese and British colonial governments, both the National Taiwan Museum and the National Museum of Singapore are the oldest public museums in each country.

Who are the Allies of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)? Neologisms, Netizens, and Nationalisms

29 March 2023 Chee-Hann Wu

Written by Hsin-I Sydney Yueh. Recently, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense rejected a Japanese news report suggesting a widespread tendency among retired Taiwanese military officials to “sell out” their country. Wu Sz-Huai, a retired lieutenant general and incumbent opposition KMT party legislator, was among those who denounced this allegation.

“Are we Chinese spies (共諜)?” Wu angrily asked this rhetorical question during a session of the National Defense Committee at Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan on March 2, 2023. While Wu denied being a Chinese spy, Taiwanese netizens teased him by sharing a photo of Wu and other retired Taiwanese military officials attending a CCP-hosted event, where they had sat attentively and listened respectfully to China’s leader Xi Jinping in 2016. Wu’s use of the term “Chinese spies” reminds us of another similar expression in Mandarin Chinese: “allies of the CCP” (中共同路人). This expression has recently gone viral in Taiwan’s online communities, used for self-mockery and as an attacking label.

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