Taiwan’s China Dilemma: Contested Identities and Multiple Interests in Taiwan’s Cross-Strait Economic Policy

By Phar Kim Beng
Founder/Chair
Strategic Pan Indo-Pacific Arena
Strategicpipa.com
Twitter: @indo_pan
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“Taiwan’s China Dilemma,” in many ways, is the island-nation’s own Taiwanese dilemma; with or without having any overt reference to China in the first place.

In other words, is Taiwan an entity that has all the rights of a sovereign state of the international community, or, is Taiwan already one, but not specifically referred to it as such ? The manner by which Taiwan is prevented from becoming the World Health Organization (WHO) is a case in point both before and during the outbreak of the pandemic in January 2020.

But going beyond these quibbles, by focusing on Taiwan’s tacky, indeed, impossibly taxing issues with China, a behemoth of a country that invites trepidation from near and distant neighbors alike, Shirley Syaru Lin was able to hold the readers captive with her factual and flawless reporting.

Be that as it may, the issues confronting Taiwan would always be serious, especially when more than 1000 Chinese missiles, potentially 2000 by some scholarly accounts, are arrayed against the defense systems of the island, producing what is essentially an “existential threat”, not just a clear and present danger .

Taiwan is undoubtedly caught in a conundrum. How can it work and trade, with China without being intimidated by it?

This issue, presented by the book, is most interesting precisely because the dynastic history of ancient China has always had more than several dynasties co-existing in conflict, or, more likely that not, in unison with one another too. Can history be any guide to the future of China?

That being said, anyone vaguely familiar with ancient Chinese history, will also concede that the “normal” of ancient and modern China, is one based on the concurrent existence of several dynasties at the same time, often balancing one against the other.

Hence, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Beijing insists there is only “one China,” and Taiwan is a part of it, what the party invites is not merely an animated rebuke from the historians and intellectuals in Taiwan, but their politicians too. Similar laments do not exclude the renunciation of the Taiwanese masses too of China’s “One China” claim. Therein the incentive of Beijing to pacify Taiwan, through instruments of war and peace, with the constant process of dangling carrots and sticks.

However, granted the very fluidity of Taiwanese identity, especially the delicate balance it has had to maintain with China, in order to continue to trade with it, addressing China wholesale requires a deft handling of two forms of statecraft.

One, how to handle China with hard power? Two, how can the former be managed with the soft power of Taiwan too? The scholarship of Syaru Shirley Lin is superb to say the least. Backed by copious data, she was able to track the identity formation, and growing awareness of being a Taiwanese; and the bread-and-butter issues facing Taiwanese; indeed, the Middle Income Trap, that bedevils the people of Taiwan, leading to its constant battles to find the perfect yet difficult equilibrium.

Using various industries as a juxtaposition to the issues, especially the acute pressures and incentives faced by the semiconductor industry to work closely with China to capitalize on the lower labor cost in the mainland, Shirley Syaru Liwas impeccable in the treatment of this subject.

Based on her Ph.D. dissertation in the University of Hong Kong, Syaru Shirley Lin expertly weaved together a flawless explanation of the tugs and pulls of the Chinese economic/political pressures; a process that incidentally began with her role as a volunteer/translator to the Koo-Wang Dialogue between Taiwan and mainland China, an even which was held for the first time held Singapore in 1993.

Thus, the book achieves the status of an insider perspective somewhat.

More importantly, it is a superb rendition of Taiwan’s internal politics, especially its struggle with its own Taiwan identity viz China. Although Taiwan’s Gross Domestic Produce (GDP) is growing, it is also experiencing a structural decline due to the economic slowdown in the mainland, and now the world is hammered by SARS Cov II which President Tsai Ing-Wen has handled remarkably well.

How then does Syaru Shirley Lin define Taiwanese identity’s struggle? Often this is done by looking at opinion polls, the responses of key corporate leaders, the policy dilemma of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Kuomintang Party, and the aggressive tactics they employed, invariably, to project themselves as more Taiwanese than the average Taiwanese, often by making speeches in Minanhua (Taiwanese dialect) or lowering their public usage of Mandarin as the only language of choice in Taiwan. Sometimes, Minanhua is “code switched” with Mandarin to create a hybrid identity.

Nevertheless, the complexity of the Taiwanese identity still remains the core. As things are, Taiwanese are occasionally confused and confounded by the disruptive changes of the world. Some do not know whether the market, or the state, should be more dominant in Taiwan’s next step forward?

What is the value of being a Taiwanese, if the very adamant insistence of this contentious identity is enough to cause the world to abandon her altogether or if triggers a war with China? Alternatively, what is the benefit of deeper engagement with China, if more inroads would potentially suggest wholesale absorption in the proverbial belly of the beast? These are questions that arise from rational calculations as well as fear and insecurity which cannot be immediately tabulated.

Yet, this book soldiered on bravely, and showed each facet of the intricate dynamics of Taiwan in a pristine (methodological) form. By using elaborate interviews and opinion polls, Syaru Shirley Lin made her methodology more rigorous and disciplined; even if the actual politics in Taiwan is often a mess, as it occasioned by the brawls in the parliament, or, the Sunflower movement, where the students tried to occupy the president’s office several years ago. This book is an exceptional work of scholarship, with impeccable research methods, which makes it a timely read, in an era dogged by the dawn of great power politics, in the Indo-Pacific arena. It is a must have on one’s (book) shelf.