Top 10 Reasons Why Taiwan is Independent
Happy New Year everyone! I thought I’d usher in the year of the rat with the top 10 reasons Taiwan is independent from China.
Taiwan’s independence from China is an extremely puzzling issue to many people I know. The China - Taiwan conflict as it were, seems to be mostly about bullying from China and not about peaceful reunification. Hundreds of missiles line the coast of China aimed at parts of Taiwan as conspicuous proof of this threat to the people of Taiwan.
Outside of the United States ‘commitment’ to democracy elsewhere in the world, Taiwan lies neglected in words yet still remains a sovereign nation. If the US could go into Iraq for the sake of democracy, then why can’t they just say Taiwan is an independent country and fight to protect it and its 23 million plus citizens? The issues are too much for me to go on, but I have made a top ten list of reasons that Taiwan IS independent from China.
# 10
Ang Lee 李安
Ang Lee is one of Hollywood’s best directors and has received an academy award for Brokeback Mountain. He has received numerous other awards for some of his other films. Here is a filmography for Ang Lee. He was born in Tainan, Taiwan.
1992 Pushing Hands 推手
1993 The Wedding Banquet 喜宴
1994 Eat Drink Man Woman 飲食男女
1995 Sense and Sensibility 理性與感性
1997 The Ice Storm 冰風暴
1999 Ride with the Devil 與魔鬼共騎
2000 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 臥虎藏龍
2002 The Hire
2003 Hulk 綠巨人
2005 Brokeback Mountain 斷背山
2007 Lust, Caution 色，戒
2009 A Little Game
# 9
Jimmy Wang (Chien - Ming Wang)
Jimmy Wang is Taiwan’s most popular athlete both in Taiwan and internationally. He plays Americas favorite sport (the national pastime) for the most famous team (the New York Yankees) and does it on a high level. He was also born in Tainan, Taiwan.
# 8
Taiwan Beer
Taiwan beer has been enjoyed by many a Taiwanese since it was first brewed in 1920. It is the national beer in Taiwan. Its not called China beer. Taiwan Beer is also the name of a basketball team in Taiwan’s super basketball league.
# 7
Simplified Chinese vs Traditional Chinese
Taiwan is one of the last remaining bastions that still use traditional Chinese characters. Here is an example of a question written in both simplified Chinese and traditional Chinese.
Why is Taiwan Independent?
台灣為什麼有獨立? Traditional
台湾为什么有独立? Simplified
# 6
The Taiwanese Flag
Every country in the world needs their own flag. Maybe that’s why some Chinese overseas get so angry and try to take the flags away from athletes at sporting events.
# 5
Currency
Taiwan has their own currency and does not use the currency of the People’s Republic of China. The NT dollar is currently trading near NT 32 for every US dollar.
# 4
The Taiwanese Military
China is the biggest military threat to Taiwan currently, and Taiwan has a modern army to protect itself (along with a promise and a box of chocolates from America). Every male in Taiwan serves a mandatory tour in Taiwan’s military.
#3
Taiwan has democratically elected officials
The Taiwanese people vote for their president and legislature in what can only be described as democratic elections. Sure, vote buying still occurs but the officials are not promoted into power through nepotism, favors, or old men that smell like cigars and fried chicken. One funny thing about Taiwan that has given its parliament a black eye is that they regularly brawl.
# 2
Some countries DO recognize Taiwan as a country
Taiwan has business relations with so many countries including China, however they still have the balls to not recognize them as a country. They don’t mind buying up their computer chips though. Here is a list of countries that have formal relations with Taiwan.
Africa (4)
* Burkina Faso
* Gambia
* São Tomé and Príncipe
* Swaziland
Europe (1)
* Vatican City
Oceania (6)
* Kiribati
* Marshall Islands
* Nauru
* Palau
* Solomon Islands
* Tuvalu
Americas (12)
* Belize
* Dominican Republic
* El Salvador
* Guatemala
* Haiti
* Honduras
* Nicaragua
* Panama
* Paraguay
* Saint Kitts and Nevis
* Saint Lucia
* Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
#1
The Real Taiwan
This website is a tribute to Taiwan (not China!) in all of its glory! Good or bad, Taiwan is my home and also the issuer of my visa and Alien Resident Certificate. I have never dealt with China or the Chinese government regarding any issues of residency, insurance, taxes or licenses.
How can Taiwan be considered a part of China? This list could go on but there is no reason for me to waste any more time writing about this. The world doesn’t seem to care about little Taiwan, especially at the thought of angering mother China, the fat, hungry warlord that she is.
Shame on you America and other countries that use the spread of democracy as solid reasoning to invade other sovereign nations but refuse to stand up fully or at all for Taiwan, which already has chosen democracy.
Shame on you France for pretending to be cool and then going to bed with China and coming out against Taiwan, and also doing joint military exersizes with them.
Please remember, there is only 1 Taiwan!
yes sir, taiwan is a great country and i think it should stay independant!
Nice video clips. Good list!
I’m not convinced the US went into Iraq for the sake of democracy though. It’$ all about the Benjamin$!
It seems crystal clear doesn’t it?
It seems clear that the current administration in Washington cares little for democracy either at home or abroad. I’m hoping that an Obama Whitehouse (who got some of his education in Indonesia) may have more respect for democracy, will get us out of the Iraq fiasco and committ some resources to protecting true democracies!
Having been to Indonesia several times, I laugh at the thought of most Americans even trying to visualize how life is over there. Anyway, back to your comment -
Let’s hope that the coming change in government will do more than lip service to countries that already support democracy.
Fuck taiwanese
Wow! Glad you could make it and add a constructive comment to the mix. You could change the world with that attitude!
TaiWan is a part of China.It is a fact that no one can change. I love China,and also TaiWan! Please don’t be independent.
I have listed several reasons why Taiwan is in fact independent. If you could back your statement up with some facts that would at least make your comment more interesting.
I support Taiwan Independence!!
Do not say shame on france,
just shame on french president.
He lost a lot of popularity because of that issue.
France has a long tradition of democracy as switzerland does (I am bi-national).
French people didn’t support their president on that.
I can not see your logic. You only listed ten great things about Taiwan, not reasons for Taiwan to be independent. You got to think it a bit more to make your title right. In your logic, if I listed one hundred great people or things about California, then California should be independent? It does not make any sense!
Plus, think a little bit about what Taiwan will be like once it is independent. Not far from independent Taiwan is a China. If Taiwan is independent, Taiwan will lose all its business and oppotunities to improve the ecnomics.
I can not see any harm for Taiwan to be together with China. I mean compare what Taiwanese will lose and what they will get, you hardly see reasons for Taiwan to be separated from China. Hongkong is a good example.
All in all, I think union is better for people. No barriers, no walls, no visa hassles. European Union is a good example there. You do not need to get all kinds of visa to travel all the Europe. One chopstick is very weak to be broken, but ten or hundreds of chopsticks will be impossible to others to break. So bigger, stronger. Is it right?
I listed some great things about Taiwan (thank you for acknowledging it as Taiwan) as well as some concrete reasons why it is independent. Does having a separate military, democratically elected officials, currency, flag, and other countries that identifying them as a separate autonomous nation count as solid logic?
I can think about what it will be like when it is independent because it is independent now. It’s just semantics. Have a look at Tibet on possible reasons Taiwan can be harmed by accepting China with open arms. It is a complex issue no doubt, and there will always need to be a great understanding between the two countries, but they can be officially considered as separate and work together.
Just some thoughts here in regards some of the mails re: Taiwan’s Independence….everyone is bringing good points to the table here and as it has been stated this is a very complex issue….maybe more so that we know. First, and foremost ( I believe before economics or all else )…what type or form of government do we adopt here in Taiwan in the event of reunification with China? Do we adopt China’s form of Communism and acknowledge the Central gov’t in Beijing. Should we cast aside the political processes in place here now as imperfect as they may be? Do we leave things kind of in place as they did in Hong Kong, yet know where the real power lies. How will this effect the economy here which is already capitalistic and not communist in form or substance. Can the Taiwanese and indirectly foreigners here expect the same freedoms already available to them, or, will the powers that be make sure things never get out of control again. Very, very intense and emotional isuues to be sure along with many others. Last I heard regardless, most Taiwanese still favor independence. Granted it was not easy in 1776, but admittedly much more diffucult in 2008.
Kim David Carpenter
Yes, it is. I agree independence of Taiwan is much more complex than we can imagine. However, the bottom line is: whether or not independence will improve Taiwan’s economy , bring Taiwanese good life. Independence or not is not dependent on 10 great things Taiwan has. ( Please, the flag of Taiwan is not called Taiwan’s flag, it’s called Republic of China!)
Due to the great developing of China mainland, I don’t think it’s a good time for Taiwan to pursue independence now. It definitely will lead to bad things–war, which is not preferred.
In my mind, if I am a Taiwanese, I will wait. Since right now, Chinese government does not have power over Taiwan. Taiwan is out the reach of them. No need to provoke Chinese government to solve Taiwan problem. Taiwan should maintain the current situation. In the future, I am sure China mainland’s democracy or communism will achieve great improvement until when it is equally with Taiwan’s situation. Then it is a good time to ask for independence or merging into Big China.
In my mind, the word “Taiwan” is in the same meaning of “Hongkong”. It does not stand for a country, it only stands for a famous place name like Hawaii. Politically, i still think Taiwan is part of big “China”. Taiwanese have no differences with Chinese. Same skin color, same language, same culture, similar food, and very close to China mainland.
Please, do not use Tibet as a support, especially for “Taiwanese”. Sometimes I am kind of angry about some Americans to argue about Tibet. Americans are intruders too! And much more severe than Chinese. Back to 1900’s, Indians are called pigs rather than human. Indians lost almost all of their land and now only live in some so called reserved part of USA.
To my knowlege, same as Tibet situation, so called “Taiwanese” is original from China mainland and intruded Taiwan Island and originally plan to use Taiwan island as a base to go back to China mainland some day in the future. Back to those days, those “local” Taiwanese were also killed or suppressed by immigrated goverment from China mainland. So as an intruder, you got no reason to be proud of yourself, to say something about Tibet .
Let me ask you some questions: where are your grandfather ( or grand-grand father ) and grandmother originally from? Taiwan island or China mainland? On your passport, is there a word called “China”? Is the character you use called “Chinese”? In your blood, you are from China mainland, no matter how you do not like it.
All in all, please consider one thing I said in previous comment—-united. Note, I was not saying Taiwan should completely accept Chinese government right now. I think now is not good for Taiwan either. I think the new president of Taiwan, Ma, is a wise man, compared with the former one. He can see through the time that to pursue so called independence is no good for Taiwan’s development. ( It only gives u a good feeling of independence.) Chinese government, in my mind, they just wanna claim Taiwan as a part of China, but they still can not lay a hand on Taiwan now. Taiwan is still in separation from Chinese government. Currently things turn to bad is because the current president wants to claim independence and want a seat in UN. So Chinese government starts to fear to lose Taiwan and then distribute soldiers close to Taiwan island. So right now, no one is harming Taiwanese, no one is pushing Taiwan to be independent or not! I am sure China will not go to a war with Taiwan if Taiwan does not want a declared independence.
So why you guys desperately want to be independent right now? Why not wait until some good time, until China mainland turns to be more democratic? Why desperately want a judge about a country name which will not bring you economic development and even will harm your economic health? I think it is no meaning. Think about the independence of USA back to 1770’s, they are not only seeking a name of country. They want to be independent because they are exploited and oppressed by England. Is Chinese government is exploiting and oppressing Taiwan now? I do not think so.
So before you publish something online saying independence, please think it a bit more: Is independence really good for Taiwan? What will it bring to Taiwan? If Taiwan is oppressing by Chinese government, I will strongly support Taiwan to be independent! But it is not true.
Right now, I guess you got a great president, Ma, whose opinion about Taiwan’s future is really good. So keeping solving Taiwan’s own problem: economics, education, or whatever you got, instead of pursuing such nonsense independent thing will bring Taiwan stronger and brighter. That’s all we hope, isn’t it?
So before you publish something online saying independence, please think it a bit more: Is independence really good for Taiwan? What will it bring to Taiwan? If Taiwan is oppressing by Chinese government, I will strongly support Taiwan to be independent! But it is not true.
Right now, I guess you got a great president, Ma, whose opinion about Taiwan’s future is really good. So keeping solving Taiwan’s own problem: economics, education, or whatever you got, instead of pursuing such nonsense independent thing will bring Taiwan stronger and brighter. That’s all we hope, isn’t it?
Right now, I guess you got a great president, Ma, whose opinion about Taiwan’s future is really good. So keeping solving Taiwan’s own problem: economics, education, or whatever you got, instead of pursuing such nonsense independent thing will bring Taiwan stronger and brighter. That’s all we hope, isn’t it
Sorry about the repeating posts. I got rejected sometimes.
Regards,
Hey, guys, want to know why there are “Some countries DO recognize Taiwan as a country” ?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/03/AR2008050301600.html?hpid=topnews
Clark, I have to be honest here I am getting sick of your incessant ranting here. You still don’t acknowledge that Taiwan is independent of China, even though it is true. Why in the world would there even be this argument if it weren’t true (rhetorical question. Do not send another 7 comments to respond). Are you working for the Chinese government or something?
The flag is Taiwan’s flag. So what if it is called the ROC flag. China is willing to kill innocent people if the name is changed. May as well be sane and keep it the way it is. It isn’t China’s flag, it is Taiwan’s. They are clearly different.
You never mention anything about the democratically elected government, currency, which is called NTD, or New Taiwanese Dollars.
Even in this article you brought up, it clearly states and I quote:
…often called dollar diplomacy, used by Taiwan and China in their relentless struggle over diplomatic recognition. In recent years, Taiwan has fared poorly in the contest, reduced to 23 countries — most of them small and impoverished…
This means that China is willing to pay more an d offer better deals.
The biggest thing about Taiwan and China is the PR battle that is developing, and you are not welcome to keep posting posts here without reading or understanding what is posted by others. You are part of an evil machine, MR. Clark Dean (and I challenge that you are not who you claim to be).
I totally agree with something being just not “right” here…especially since the main emphasis of Mr. Clark’s arguement that Taiwan should not independent is that it would hurt us economically. It might be very true, but a poor reason of why a country should not aspire to be in dependent. If that were in fact the case historically….there might not ever have been a USA which I believe you claim to be from. Before the Revolutionary War it could be agrued sucessfully that the colonies were “economically” better off remaining…just that…colonies, and should have never even contemplated “independence” which you have equated with economic suicide. We did in fact do just fine …
Dear Kim David Carpenter,
Very glad you have this kind of strong feelings about my post.
However I have no idea why you are so angry about my argument:
1. I apologized that I posted about 8 posts with some repeating. Have u read that?
2. I did not “claim” I am from USA. The flag is just being added by this server using my IP address which is USA. I am from China mainland.
3. I cannot see any reason that I should use my true name. Who knows what you guys will do to me. I still hope that some day I will have chance to go to Taiwan. I like Taiwan, culture, food, and people.
4. Since this is a public topic, and you post your opinions this independence of Taiwan thing, I assume you are open for any opinions from others, either same or different. But it seems like you do not like opinions or arguments against yours, which is, in my mind, a little bit undemocratic.
5. You even make some statement to try to assault me personally. That’s not a clever move. I am not working for any kind of bowshit government. And personally I am against the formation of country, which set non-sense barriers between people.
Interesting, I cannot post my arguments anymore. You block it??? This is called democracy? So ironic.
Anyway, I got to finish my last reply.
1. Your logic is somehow making non-sense. An argument being brought up, is because it is not very true yet. Otherwise there is no need to argue about that, which is what we are doing now. Will somebody argue about the independence of China mainland from Taiwan??? probably not.
2. China is called People’s republic of China. Don’t mess with that. About the statement ” China is willing to kill innocent people if the name is changed”, I take that as a joke, since Taiwan government will also kill innocent people if Taiwan’s name is changed. Where is Taiwan’s Flag from?? Have you looked that through history??
3. Do you have a passport? What’s the name of “country” on your passport. Is it not called ” Republic of China “?? Does that stand for Taiwan or China???? At least my Taiwanese friends are using this kind of passport.
4. Why should I mention the currency and government?
5. Why am I a part of an evil machine?? That is so ridiculous. I am just a person that posted some arguments about your non-logic opinions. What makes you say that? Are you saying Chinese government is evil? If so, Taiwan has already been destroyed by vessels. Do not naively think USA will protect you. They just want to make Taiwan buy more weapons from them. Can’t you see that?
In all, it seems like you are not serious about the discussion of this topic. Too many personal assaulting. I will not take your words as a standing of Taiwan. Again, I am here to just talk about this special issue between Taiwan and China mainland, no harmful or so called “government-controlled” purpose. But the result turns out to be very disappointing. You guys always want to push your opinions into others mind to make them believe that. That’s not the spirit of democracy. I challenge your statement of ” Taiwan is democratic”. Even me, as a person from non-democratic system, knows how to fairly and openly make a discussion with out personal attack.
Peace will stand. War is no good. Please do not push a war. Hope some day Taiwan and China mainland will be together to seek the beautiful future. That’s all I stand on.
Clark Dean,
This site has a spam filter, and your comments all get picked up there so it takes a little while before I see them to approve them. It is not me censoring, and if you notice all of your many comments have been posted.
You are welcome to have a discussion, but first I challenge you to look at all the points made, understand them, and then reply. Don’t just attack me for having a post with some good qualities about Taiwan. There are a few of them listed, but there are too many concrete reasons that you keep ignoring.
Regarding Taiwan killing innocent people if the name is changed, that would only happen if China attacked them. What about all of the missiles pointed at my home now? That is a clear threat, and threats are assault. Of course Taiwan won’t attack China unless it is in self defense. China, on the other hand, in its desire for regional hegemony will not accept Taiwan officially claiming what it already has, and that is independence from the mainland.
I don’t ask people to put there true identity here, but it really looked like you were attempting to see m like an American with that name and the little flag that shows up by your comments. I knew by your typos that you weren’t though, and likely to be Chinese and/or working with the Chinese government.
To be honest, I think the Chinese government gets a lot of bad press for its bad deeds, as opposed to other countries that get less press for their bad deeds, but that still doesn’t make them the rightful government in Taiwan.
Why does it matter to China at all that Taiwan is a part of it or not? That is a big question, but it doesn’t answer the reality of the current situation.
I believe Taiwan wants peace, but who do you know that would accept peace with a gun to their head demanding acceptance of a desire or war? Taiwan is not pushing war. It is China. This is a fact, and if you have an alternative opinion, then it is just that. When did Taiwan threaten war or pass legislation to fight China?
Ok. This is all for a while. I hope that you will really read what these words say, and try to understand this side.
Mr. Dean ( for lack of your real name ),
I don’t recall attacking you personally…I never would…its not in my nature. You must admit, you did misrepresent yourself instead of being upfront about where you are from as opposed to where you might be at present. My name IS Kim David Carpenter…I presently live in Taiwan and may do so for an extended period if not permanently. I am from the US and not ashamed of my country even though its governmental policies run counter to m ost of my beliefs…I really don’t do politics….too messy most of the time. I am very sure that there are many people who love China and deep down inside are really not too crazy about their governments policies either. After reading all your posts the one statement that stands out the most is the following “I cannot see any reason that I should use my true name. Who knows what you guys will do to me”. To me that sums up the difference between being raised in a democracy and raised under a regime of fear where you cannot speak out. Nobody hear professes to do you any harm…I find it insulting that you might even think that, but you cannot be blamed I suppose. I hope your time in the US and maybe other “free” societies teaches you the differences in our basic values….good luck.
hey guys… damn.. chill out and go smoke a blunt. what will happen will happen no amount of arguing on a forum will solve anything. peace..
Come on. I already said I had no right to change my ” little flag”, it is picked up by your system automatically!!!! Should I say that again?? Have I pretended to be an American?? Haha, You even did not read through my post! How can you demand me to understand all you said???
Is ” you are part of an evil machine” not a personal attacking?
About the statement: ” I cannot see any reason that I should use my true name. Who knows what you guys will do to me”. is not worry about whether I will be harmed personally. I worry about my travel to Taiwan some day in the future. There is no absolute democracy, for god’s sake, even in USA, 80% of phone call is being spied by government. Even you do not want to block me, What Taiwan government thinks I am a spy or something? Can you ensure me that I could go to Taiwan freely after I released my true name?
Indeed, I have good luck to travel to another country to learn something good. That’s why I want to go to another country. Before you say that country or government bad or not, you have to do that, you have to go there, to see what you can see, to ask what you care about. That’s the reason I want to go to Taiwan too. Have you heard any words I said about “Taiwan government is evil”? No. Because I cannot say that before I actually go there to see the truth. So please before you say ” I am part of an evil machine”, you should go to China to see if all the Chinese people are in deep shit. What you heard and saw is filtered by media or government. So if you want to understand the truth of Tibet or something else, please go some research or go there to see, before you say it is “evil”.
About human rights in China, I know it is nasty. However compare to human rights, there are nastier things for government to solve: poor ecnomics, bad education, pollution, etc. Can you see that? If these problems on your lists, which one you want to fix first??
About the typoes, I admit I did a bad job on that. I am trying to make it better. Thanks for reminding me of that.
About who are pushing the war, I think we both had some mistake. You say China is pointing a gun to Taiwan. But I am wondering the situation before that. Before China distribute a huge amount of army there, what Taiwan did? To my knowledge, Taiwan is planning to ask for a seat in UN in 2008 since it is the time of Olympic when China cannot use army. That’s the start of this tense situation. It is not China who was pointing a gun to force Taiwan to do that. About China’s purpose. I think it is very clear. Once Taiwan is back to China, American’s army cannot go closed to China’s mainland freely, which is a big worry of US. So go down deep, Taiwan problem is actually US trying to surround China. If you are not satisfied by this answer, go to do some research about the Asian strategy of US government.
As you said, Taiwan is seeking peace NOW! Not before! Look at how many weapons Taiwan bought from US in the last 2 or 3 years!!
Sum it up. Glad to discuss this with you, Mr Carpenter. All I want to say to you is: please look it all-sided, before you say it is good or bad.
I like ” Taiwanese girl” ’s quote.