China and Taiwan: Common History, Big Differences

The conflict between the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan has been simmering for decades – there is no prospect of an amicable solution. About a complicated relationship.

On October 1, 1949, the communist revolutionary Mao Zedong proclaimed the People’s Republic of China in Beijing. This event symbolizes the end of the Chinese Civil War. Mao’s communists defeated the ROC military. But many representatives and supporters of the republic do not want to admit defeat and flee to the island of Taiwan off the Chinese mainland. Since then, for 72 years, there have actually been two Chinese states: the Communist People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China, which is still officially called that but is internationally known by the name of the island on which it is located – Taiwan.

Nationalism and personality cult are increasing

After the death of the long-term dictator Mao Zedong in the late 1970s, a remarkable economic upswing began in the People’s Republic, making the country the second largest economy in the world after the USA. Politically, however, the People’s Republic of China remains a dictatorship. The leadership in Beijing does not allow opposition, freedom of expression and a civil society that deviates from state opinion.

The current head of state Xi Jinping has consistently expanded the role of the Communist Party in politics, society and the economy since he came to power almost nine years ago. Nationalism and the cult of personality have recently increased considerably.

One of the most stable democracies in Asia

Taiwan, on the other hand, has developed from a dictatorship to a vibrant democracy since the late 1980s. The island is one of the most politically stable democracies in Asia. Today’s 23 million inhabitants enjoy all the freedoms of a modern and liberal state: freedom of expression, freedom of the press and freedom of demonstration, a functioning constitutional state and a lively and free civil society. President Tsai Ing-Wen regularly emphasizes Taiwan’s independence:

I call on China to recognize our existence as Taiwan. China must respect that our 23 million people insist on freedom and democracy. We have to resolve our differences peacefully and on an equal footing.

What the Taiwanese president is alluding to here are the demands of the Chinese government for an annexation of Taiwan to the People’s Republic – or for “reunification”, as it is officially called in China.

For the political scientist Dirk Schmidt from the University of Trier, the word “reunification” is problematic here – at least from a Taiwanese point of view, as the expert on China’s foreign policy emphasizes. “That Taiwan should be incorporated into the territory of the People’s Republic is clearly a specific view of the People’s Republic,” he says. “That is declared under the term ‘reunification’. Objectively, viewed from the outside, that is not correct.”

Maps show Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic

Because Taiwan was never part of the People’s Republic, which was founded in 1949. Even so, China’s communist leadership is pretending that Taiwan is an integral part of the country. Therefore, without exception, all maps in China show Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic, regardless of whether it is teaching material at schools or universities, the weather map on television or an outline of China used as a decorative element on T-shirts or posters.

State and party leader Xi Jinping regularly makes it clear that historically this was the way to integrate Taiwan into the People’s Republic. In January 2019 he said:

“We cannot promise that we will refrain from using force. We reserve the option to take all necessary measures in case of doubt. This advice is not directed against our compatriots in Taiwan, but rather at forces from outside and at them very low number of independence activists in Taiwan.

A clear majority want to keep their independence

It is part of the strategy of the Chinese state and party leadership to pretend that only a small minority of Taiwanese are against joining the People’s Republic. In fact, it is the other way around: A clear majority on the island wants to retain political independence and, above all, democratic freedoms.

The close economic ties between the two sides are largely unaffected by the political and social differences. The People’s Republic of China is by far Taiwan’s most important trading partner.