Impressions of Taiwan
March 25, 2005
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 Akio Kawato

I visited Taipei from March 6 to 9 and met with seven or eight people including academics and journalists; my impressions from talking to these people are summarized below. The trip, my first to Taiwan, coincided with the timing of Beijing’s presentation of the Anti-Secession Law to the People’s Congress. The timing enabled me to clearly observe the situation in which Taiwan was placed.

In the summary and impressions on various aspects that follow, the comments made by the local people during the dialogues are shown inside “”. Their names are kept anonymous.

Summary
(1) The end of the Cold War and the review of the post-WWII system
At the end of the Cold War, Taiwan, like the Republic of Korea (ROK), was prompted to review its state structure, which was compared to that of former South Viet Nam. The Taiwanese society which had undergone economic development also called for such a move. In short, East Asian nations including Japan were firmly impacted by the ending of the Cold War.
In Taiwan, too, its economy that had largely been dominated by state-run enterprises has undergone changes to advance privatization.

(2) Taiwan’s identity
If you like Taiwan can be compared to a group of “split nations” arising in the wake of the Cold War. Because there is such a large difference in scale between Taiwan and mainland China (although Taiwan’s GDP reaches one-third of China’s), the question becomes not so much whether China was split into two but whether the two are united or whether Taiwan separated from China.

In this context, even if China’s current position is that it wishes for a peaceful international environment for the sake of its economic growth and does not want to make waves on the Taiwan Strait, at the same time it cannot publicly admit Taiwan’s “separation” and thus tries to put pressure on the island as was recently the case with the Anti-Secession Law. For Japan and the United States (US) on the other hand, the importance of Taiwan is increasing as the balancer for a rapidly growing China (from a military aspect, Taiwan’s geographical location serves as a lid to contain China’s navy from advancing to the open sea, while the sea lanes off Taiwan have major economic significance for Japan, the US and China respectively). But neither Japan nor the US wishes to risk inviting an armed conflict with China by supporting Taiwan’s independence.
　
A vast majority of Taiwanese citizens genuinely believe that their current economic prosperity and democracy cannot be maintained if Taiwan were united to the mainland (In fact, there was absolutely nothing to suggest an authoritarian atmosphere in Taiwan. My impression is that Taipei is blessed with liberalism and prosperity), and therefore wish for independence, if only possible. But the citizens also know too well that the most they can possibly hope for is to maintain the current status-quo amid the delicate balance between China, the US and Japan. This is shown in public opinion polls in which 95-98 percent of citizens preferred “the status-quo.”

All these have led to the creation of a unique presence in the world, that is neither independent nor united to the mainland. Are there any similar cases in world history? “I am grateful that Japan and the US guarantee Taiwan’s security. But this has bound Taiwan hand and foot” (comment by A). This remark reflects the true feeling shared by the people in Taiwan.

(3) China’s Anti-Secession Law
I visited Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs a day before Beijing presented the Anti-Secession Law to the People’s Congress. While it had just obtained the draft bill on the Internet, the ministry’s response was nevertheless a calm one.

The enactment of the law was originally triggered in December 2004, when, during Taiwan’s general election campaign, incumbent President Chen Shui-bian called for the creation of a Constitution to allow for the island’s independence in order to win many votes. Despite the fact that the defeat of President Chen’s party set back his stance on independence and forced the party to move closer to the People’s First Party, which is against independence, in order to secure a majority in the Congress, none of this stopped China’s earlier reactions.

The law was adopted in Beijing. Nevertheless it has led to no immediate armed conflict, and instead made one Taiwanese comment, “It is unpleasant, but the rules of the game are now clearly written out. Now it’s easier to play the game” (however this sounds like the person is trying to be a little too tough). My tour guide, on the other hand, was more frank about her feelings on China’s move, saying, “When they put so much pressure…”

(4) Domestic Politics
Taiwan’s domestic politics evolve around a number of conflict axes, including the one between the “Bensheng ren (original-province persons)” (people who migrated from the mainland to Taiwan mainly for economic reasons before the Kuomintang took power of the island) and the “Waisheng ren (external-province persons)”; another between the rich north and the less-rich south; and a third between pro-independence and pro-unification. It is said in Japan that its colonization of Taiwan was successful, but in reality there were also bloody anti-Japan fights. Taiwanese sentiments towards Japan would have been different if the “external-province persons” (i.e. the Kuomintang force) that came to Taiwan after Japan’s defeat had not made such a big enemy out of the “original-province persons.”

(3) Economy
It appears that Taiwan has a low tax burden (the national contribution rate is said to be about 34 percent of the GDP), and its government suffers from fiscal deficits every year. Public debts account for about 34 percent of its GDP.

East Asia’s advanced regions are all seeing their birthrates decline: 1.1 (1.1 baby born per 1,000 people) in Taiwan and the ROK, 0.9 in Hong Kong; the rates are already below Japan’s.

(4) Cross-strait relations
(a) Investments from Taiwan account for nearly 10 percent of all direct investments into China from overseas. If you add investments from Hong Kong, which is under the One Country Two Systems formula (the Zhejiang-Province Conglomerate, which created post-WWII Hong Kong, had considerable ties with Taiwan in the pre-WWII China), the sum tops 50 percent. It was once said that “China will not annex Taiwan and Hong Kong, but the capital resources of Taiwan and Hong Kong will take China by storm”: just looking at the numbers this has proved to be true.

However, investments to this level might expose Taiwanese companies to risks such as requisition and nationalization in the mainland, putting Taiwan into a weaker position. In fact recent cases show that companies which are seen to be pro-Taiwanese government are unfairly treated by Chinese authorities. The reality nevertheless is that investments into China are economically too attractive to be stopped by Taiwanese authorities.

(b) I was told that Taiwan has no particular lobbies representing its interests in Beijing’s central government. Instead, it is said that major Taiwanese companies seek to solve commercial disputes through cooperation with local governments, while referring their cases to local courts. Given the fact that much of the investments from Taiwan to the mainland are made in Fujian Province, from which many people immigrated to Taiwan as “original-province persons”, it can be presumed that Taiwanese companies expect protection from their regional and blood ties. The central government in the mainland tries to avoid fixations of local interests by frequently transferring top officials from the local government and military, regardless of their hometowns. This may be an indication that once the importance of foreign investments declines in China, the security of investments from Taiwan to China may not necessarily be guaranteed.

(5) The Factor of Overseas Chinese
Taiwan and China have been quarreling with each other over the overseas Chinese living in ASEAN countries. Taiwan also had a tie-up with Hong Kong to set up “the World Hakka Convention,” which once worked like a secret society offering mutual aid among the overseas Chinese. Many of the overseas Chinese at that time supported Kuomintang, and Taiwan even issued passports to them. But the Democratic Progressive Party, currently holding the reins of Taiwan, is against the principle of the Great China under which all overseas Chinese will be taken care of regardless of their ancestries.

“Mainland China has yet to have free control of the overseas Chinese in ASEAN countries. Mainland China can solicit its own version of the World Hakka Convention, but the participants consist largely of older generations. At its session in Jakarta in 2003, the pro-continent convention treated the group from Taiwan discriminately. The expansion of the market economy in China made it easier for Beijing to call on overseas Chinese” (comment by A).

Impressions on various aspects

The Social Atmosphere
(1) The land plots around Taipei’s CKS Airport appear more orderly than those around Incheong Airport in the ROK. The Taipei area must have a lot of rainfall, but many ponds assumed to be used for irrigation are scattered around, a very similar scene to that of the Kinki area in western Japan. Like in the ROK, cars keep to the right, despite the history of rule by Japan where cars stay to the left.

(2) Although CSK Airport has new modern terminals, the airplane I took from Seoul pulled up alongside an old terminal. The ceiling was low and the booth for passport control looked like a barrack, reminding me of the time when Taiwan was a provisional state established in a time of emergency. And, unlike the ROK or mainland China, Taiwan does not try to overemphasize its statehood. One point common between the ROK and Taiwan is the long waiting time travelers must endure before clearing the passport control; although the wait was not as long as in the US, it was just as long as in Russia.

(3) In the suburbs of Taipei are a lot of hills, laced with numerous river streams, reminding me of scenes from old and remote hot spring resorts in Izu or Gunnma in the far outskirts of Tokyo. And Taipei is a tranquil city. Here one can find a Chinese culture that is not aggressive. An indoor baseball stadium stands in a slightly messy area, where the posters of the musical Notre Dame de Paris are billed along the streets. All these create a blend of East and West, and tradition and contemporariness, a sort of overcrowded atmosphere also found in Shanghai.
　
Motorbikes, which are rarely seen in Seoul, are everywhere in Taipei. Though there are fewer than in Vietnam or India and they look quite sophisticated, the motorbikes give the city a Southeast Asia-like feel to it. The music I heard in the taxis sounded like covers of Japanese enka ballads, but they had lost enka’s typical strong verses, and sounded soft and mellow like Chinese traditional melodies.　　

When I went to the reception area of the Foreign Ministry, a middle aged man approached me casually with a cup (paper cup) of coffee in his hand. He had an air of American liberalness. This man turned out to be the person with whom I had had an appointment, who was in the ranks equivalent to the director of the ministry’s policy making department. Authoritarianism and sternness are the last things that can be associated with today’s Taiwanese government. As a female official (political appointee) put it, “Taiwan is the picture of peace. No terrorists would come here.” My visit coincided with the day Beijing presented the Anti-Secession Law to the People’s Congress. But no tension was observed at the Foreign Ministry.

(4) The National Palace Museum displays only a fraction of its collection, as it is currently undergoing major repairs. Yet the exhibits were abundant enough to lead me to new discoveries that broke some cultural stereotypes. One such finding was that the image of bodhisattva, or the Buddha believed to descend to earth in the future, was once represented by slim meditative figures in China, too, where we typically see them today as the plump Zen priest Budai, or Hotei in Japanese, who is believed to be a reincarnation of Maitreya. Second, about “ezoushi”, or illustrated story books that were popular among the commoners in the feudal age in Japan. Some scholars cite the books’ popularity as proof that Japan has had multi-media concepts since long before the arrival of the technology age. But in fact, as the exhibits show, people appreciated those sorts of books in China as well. Likewise, the types of bottles and cups we typically use for Japanese sake can be found in China, but those used in the ROK are more similar in taste to the Japanese ones. Lastly, groups of Japanese senior tourists visiting the museum were somehow viewing the Chinese cultural pieces with a subservient attitude.

(5) In Taipei the world’s tallest skyscraper had just opened; the 508 meter-tall “Taipei 101.” In the shopping center that occupies its lower floors, there are many Japanese restaurants, bookstores, stationery and clothing stores, in a scale far out of comparison with Seoul.

The elevator that led to the 400-meter-high observation deck was full of people. Soon as the elevator started to ascend, it quickly became dark inside. Then the typical “cosmic metal sounds” burst out just like from a rocket, while images of stars were projected onto the ceiling. After about a ten-second glance at the stars, we got to the 89th floor, which was 382 meters above ground. This translates into a speed of 60 meters per second, the same as Japan’s Shinkansen bullet train. The building was designed in a Chinese style and similar to a Mori-building in Shanghai that is under construction. When completed the Shanghai tower is expected to be the world’s new tallest skyscraper.