In your view, why did Lu Hsiu-lien and many others in her generation become advocates of "Taiwan independence"?
Taiwan independence is a politically-motivated movement who primary aim is to form an independent and sovereign Republic of Taiwan from the lands that are currently governed by the Republic of China (ROC) (modern-day Taiwan) and claimed to be owned by the People’s Republic of China (PRC, China). It aims at renaming the Republic of China to the Republic of Taiwan and obtaining the status and recognition of a sovereign state internationally.
This movement is divided between two major coalition organizations: Pan-Green Coalition and Pan-Blue Coalition. While Pan-Green is in favor of the objectives of the movement, Pan-Blue seeks to oppose it and retain the ambiguous status of the ROC, or eventually unify with the land of China in some point of time in the future.
In this essay, we will look over the history of the Taiwan Independence movement, the factors that prompted many citizens to advocate the independence of Taiwan and the contribution of Lu Hsiu-lien in bringing about the change.
The movement is said to begun in around seventeenth century as a struggle for independence and paved the way for the current political movement. This movement dates back to the Japanese colonial period, but took the political shape only in the later 1990s. During the colonial period, Taiwan independence was actively advocated, but was often suppressed by the Japanese government. Ever since the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was established in Taiwan, the unification versus independence of Taiwan has become one of the primary issues based on which the parties in Taiwan establish their political propaganda. Taiwan has also faced the threats of military attack from China in case it declares a formal independence, which if takes place, will lead to the involvement of major countries like United States and Japan as well.
There crept in too many differences in the social and cultural contexts of the two nations. Moreover, the Chinese government has never given the political freedom to Taiwan. Neither did it allow progressive democratic reforms in the region, nor has it heard the voices of the people living in the island or the democratically-elected government.
After the second world war, Chiang Kai-shek of China went on to declare an unquestionable control over Taiwan. The people of the island were never consulted and Chiang’s Kuo Min Tang (KMT) made sure that they were never heard. He massacred about 30,000 residents in 1947. Taiwanese had long believed and seen KMT as a foreign ruler, who has been imposed on them, rather than one of their own.
China even went as far as to block Taiwan’s entry into WHO and UN member nations, voiding its right to self-determination. Moreover, the government kept moving forward with the only social agenda of maintenance of power, which left nationalism as the only ideology to be followed.
All these factors led the Taiwanese to believe that continuing to stay under the thumb of China would be a major step back for the state, which was on its way to becoming a prosperous democracy. As a result, many people were attracted towards the idea of an independent Taiwan nation.
In the recent times, Taiwan has traversed a great distance, right from dictatorship to a democracy in the modern times. However, this journey was never easy. The journey and story of Taiwan is decorated with the journey of Lu Hsiu-lien. Lu has played a key role in the evolution of Taiwan from dictatorship to a modern-day democracy through her successive efforts for gender equality, human rights, political reform apart from her prime agenda, Taiwan independence.
Just as Marxism regained its popularity in the post-Martial era among the female activists, this question again became a contested issue. In 1994, the Taipei Women’s Rights Association became the first feminist organization in Taiwan to officially declare the support for DPP’s pro-Taiwan independence stance. However, it was only Lu Hsiu-lien, one of the most tireless fighters of the country for democracy, women’s rights and equality, who openly advocated Taiwanese independence and a peaceful coexistence between the two countries (Chang 162).
Born in a middle-class family, Lu’s career as an independent activist, a feminist of an international stature and a politician travelled eras of economic and political transformation. She pursued her education from the National Taiwan University, the University of Illinois and the Harvard University. After completing her education abroad, she had many easier options of continuing to stay in United States and practice law. However, she chose to return home and became a leading activist for women’s rights in 1970s. She turned against the government right from her school days and after her recovery from Cancer in 1970s, she dedicated her whole life to bring in the equal political participation from every citizen of Taiwan, from all ethnic groups. And thus, began her fight for the replacement of Nationalist government with a democratically – elected people’s government. In 1979, her speech in the Meili Island in the criticism of the authoritarian government took her directly to the prisons of Taiwan, where she spent almost six years as a political prisoner.
While in prison, she wrote a novel to bring her thoughts out in front of the public. To save it from the eyes of the prison wardens, she wrote on toilet papers and smuggled them out of the prison in a quilt. This novel became the source of information and inspiration among the many people of Taiwan and shook the country to take a stand for independence. The speech brought about some significant changes in the political situation of Taiwan. It formally ended the dictatorship of KMT in Taiwan. The speech event, which witnessed an audience of roughly 160 individuals, had the effect of bringing the whole Taiwanese community into a political enthusiasm and is treated as one of those events which started the fire of democracy in Taiwan.
She continued to fight for her cause even after her release. She had achieved the rank of the National Policy Advisor to the President, and with this power at hand, it was easier for her to fight for the democracy in Taiwan and getting the country to achieve internationally recognized independence.
It was in May 2000 that she knew her efforts had been well-received when she became the first female Vice-President of the country, which is no small achievement in itself. Since then, she has travelled across the lengths and borders of the world showcasing Taiwan’s efforts in the areas of humanitarianism, democracy and human rights. She had left no stone unturned in debating and pushing the UN to internationally recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state. To her contribution are a number of bridges that she built towards the people of India and Tibet, and her efforts got her the Peace Corps Academy’s World Peace Prize. Thanks to her steady beliefs and her willingness to not accept injustice silently, she has brought a great name for Taiwan in the international community.
The rights of Taiwan had always been suppressed by the government of China. As per the principles of modern democracy, Taiwan has the right to formally declare their independence anytime they want to. It has also been established that the state does not want to be ruled by China at a political level. However, it is China’s threat to bomb the island if they declare their independence that has kept the Taiwanese hanging in between the scales of independent versus unified nation, with “status quo” lying in the center. It is the unfinished civil war of the China and Taiwan that worries the mainland.
Lu has dedicated all her life to the struggle of Taiwanese democracy and independence. She continues to inspire the students and the youth of Taiwan to come forward and bring about the political reforms that are the need of the current hour. She asserts that Taiwan still needs to go through some modifications as a whole in order to fully realize the dream of the absolute democracy. More than half of the current Taiwanese democratic system is unacceptable and it is high-time that some adjustments are brought in. She has brought Taiwan to the crowning moment of the democratic dream, but it is up to the new generation to make a change in the system and give their ideas as a contribution to the country.
Works Cited
Chang, Doris T. Women’s movements in Twentieth-Century Taiwan. Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2009.
Esarey, Ashley, and Hsiu-Lien Lu. My Fight for a New Taiwan. 2014. Print.
