Taiwan's desinicization campaign

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Taiwan's desinicization campaign includes efforts by the Republic of China (Taiwan) government beginning in 2000 to distance itself from China by taking actions such as removing Chinese influence from items within Taiwan control. While the Taiwanese localization movement may view such efforts as emphasizing the importance of Taiwan's culture, this article addresses the perspective of those who likely support the reunification of all of Greater China under a single political entity.

Contents 1 Origin 1.1 Education efforts 1.2 Official document efforts 1.3 Language efforts 1.4 Constitutional and political efforts 1.5 Other efforts 2 Impact 3 References 4 See also

[edit] Origin

Where sinicization may be thought of as assimilation into the culture of China, desinicization may be thought of as the removal of the culture of China from a society. The desinicization campaign in relation to Taiwan traces back to at least the 1950s as part of the Cold War^{[dubious – discuss]}. In the 1950s, the United States sought to preserve overseas Chinese loyalty to Taiwan.^[1] In contrast, the desinicization of emigrant Chinese was seen as acceptable by the Chinese government in Peking so long as overseas Chinese transferred their attachments from China to their adopted countries and not to Taiwan.^[1] As noted by author Lynn Pat in 1990, after the transfer of their attachment from China, the contest between directing overseas Chinese loyalty to Taiwan and directing it to countries other than Taiwan kept alive the idea of an overseas Chinese scapegoat in that country.^[1]

At the end of World War II Chinese Kuomintang forces occupied Taiwan and soon began an effort to sinicize the population. Mandarin Chinese became the only language allowed in media and school to the exclusion of Taiwanese languages. Public institutions and corporations where given names that included the words "China" or "Chinese". School history and geography lessons focused on China with little attention paid to Taiwan.

With end of martial law in 1987 and the introduction of democracy in the 1990s, an effort began to re-assert Taiwanese identity and culture while trying to get rid of many Chinese influences imposed by the Kuomintang.

[edit] Education efforts

In 2000, then-ROC president Lee Teng-hui began making statements such as "Taiwan culture is not a branch of Chinese culture" and "Taiwan's southern Fujian dialect is not a branch of Fujian's southern Fujian dialect, but rather a 'Taiwan dialect'."^[2] Following this up, textbooks in Taiwan were revised from standard written chinese to Taiwanese.^[2] In addition, Taiwan radio and TV increased their Taiwan dialect (southern Fujian dialect) programming.^[2] These efforts were perceived in China as initial efforts towards breaking the ties between Taiwan culture and Chinese culture by downplaying the long-term Chinese cultural and historic identification in that region.^[2]

The textbook issue was raised again in November 2004, when a group of lawmakers, legislative candidates and supporters of the pro-independence Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) urged the ROC Ministry of Education to publish Taiwan-centric history and geography textbooks for school children as part of the desinicization campaign.^[3] Although the resulting draft outline of history course for regular senior middle schools was criticized by a variety of groups,^[4] President Chen Shui-bian stated that "to seek the truth of Taiwan's history" is not equal to desinicization nor an act of independence and indicated that he would not interfere with the history editing and compilation efforts.^[5][6]

The efforts to revise Taiwan's history textbooks were condemned in February 2007 by the People's Republic of China's Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council as being part of the desinicization campaign.^[7] In July 2007, the Taiwan Ministry of Education released a study that found 5,000 textbook terms, some relating to Chinese culture, as being "unsuitable".^[8] The Kuomintang of China saw this as part of a textbook censorship desinicization campaign.^[9]

[edit] Official document efforts

Between 2002 and 2007, the ROC government under Chen Shui-bian took steps to revise the terms "China," "Republic of China," "Taipei", and other that impart an association with the Chinese culture.^{[10][11][12][13]}

In 2002, the "Name Rectification Campaign" made significant advances in replacing the terms "China," "Republic of China," or "Taipei" with the term "Taiwan" on official documents, in the names of Taiwan-registered organizations, companies, and public enterprises on the island, and in the names of businesses stationed abroad.^[10] In 2003, the ROC Foreign Ministry issued a new passport having the word "Taiwan" printed in English on its cover.^[14] Moreover, in January 2005, Taiwan adopted a Westernized writing format for government documents, denied that it was an attempt at desinicization, and promoted the actions as "a concerted effort at globalizing Taiwan's ossified bureaucracies and upgrading the nation's competitive edge."^[15]

Efforts in this area continued in March 2006, where the Democratic Progressive Party sought to change the Republic of China year designation used in Taiwan to the Gregorian calendar.^[16] Instead of the year 2006 being referred to as the "95th year of the ROC" -- with the 1912 founding of the Republic of China being referred to as "the first year of the ROC" -- the year 2006 would be identified as 2006 in official usage such as on banknotes, IDs, national health insurance cards, driver's licenses, diplomas and wedding certificates.^[16] This was viewed as the government trying another angle for desinicization by removing any trace of China from Taiwan.^[16]

In February 2007, the term "China" was replaced by the term "Taiwan" on Taiwan postage stamps to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the uprising in Taiwan that began on February 28, 1947 and was suppressed by the Kuomintang (KMT) government.^[17] In that same month, the name of the official postal service of Taiwan was changed from the Chunghwa Post Co. to The Taiwan Post Co.^[18]

In March 2007, the name plate of the ROC Embassy in Panama was revised both to include the word "Taiwan"in parenthesis between the words "the Republic of China" and "Embassy" in both of its Chinese and Spanish titles, and to omit the ROC national emblem.^[19]

[edit] Language efforts

In April 2003, the Committee for Promoting Mandarin, which was part of Taiwan's Ministry of Education, released a legislation proposal entitled "Language Equality Law."^[20] The proposed legislation sought to designate fourteen languages as the national languages of Taiwan.^[20] In China, this was seen as an effort to diminish the use of standard Mandarin and its cultural influences in favor of revising the cultural and psychological foundations on the island of Taiwan by using other languages.^[20] The draft was not adopted.^[20]

[edit] Constitutional and political efforts

In October 2003, President Chen Shui-bian announced that Taiwan would seek a new constitution suitable for the Taiwan people that would turn Taiwan into a "normal country."^[21] In explaining what a normal country was in the context of desinicization and the 1992 One-China policy, Chen Shui-bian stated,

"Taiwan is an independent sovereign country, but a lot of people do not think of Taiwan as a country and do not dare to call Taiwan an independent sovereign nation, which is quite abnormal. ... Taiwan must not fall into the trap of being regarded as part of China, or become a special region of China like Hong Kong."^[21]

In response, the Pan-Blue Coalition within Taiwan sought to portray President Chen Shui-bian and his Democratic Progressive Party as radicals intent on implementing revolutionary desinicization that would disenfranchise various ethnic groups within Taiwan who have an affinity for China and the Chinese culture.^[22]

In February 2007, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) adopted a resolution to identify those responsible for the 1947 228 Incident massacre of Taiwanese people and to remove the "remnants of dictatorship" traced to that sixty-year-old incident.^[23] This was seen in China as being in line with a series of desinicization actions by both the Taiwan government and the DPP to rid both Chiang and China from the Taiwan public scene.^[23] Others criticized the request, seeing it as "rubbing salt into wounds" by playing up the historical issues for political gain.^[23]

[edit] Other efforts

In March 2007, it was noted that the destruction of the Western Line railway base found below the floor of the Taipei Main Station and built in 1893 by Taiwan Governor Liu Mingchuan was part of the government's call for desinicization through removal of the Chinese site.^[24]

In July 2007, President Chen Shui-bian announced that he would not allow Chinese diplomas or students into Taiwan during the rest of his presidential term.^[25]

[edit] Impact

In April 2002, the Communist Party of China (CPC) noted both active efforts on the part of Taiwan to push ahead its desinicization policy and intensified United States-Taiwan military cooperation.^[10] In response, the CPC publicly reminded its military to be prepared to achieve reunification of Greater China under a single political entity through military means.^[10] In addition, the CPC sought assistance from the United States to address the matter with Taiwan.^[10] As part of making the upcoming U.S. visit by then vice-president Hu Jintao go smoothly, the United States cautioned the Chen Shui-bian administration not to "go too far" in cross-Strait relations.^[10]

In April 2005, the Communist Party of China (CPC) general secretary Hu Jintao and the former ROC Vice President and then chairman of the Kuomintang party (KMT) Lien Chan shook hands.^[26] Billed as a historic moment, this was the first handshake by the top leaders of the KMT and the CPC in 60 years.^[26] In remarking on the handshake, chairman Chan noted that it was a turning point where the KMT and the CPC would work together to bring about peaceful cross-strait relations and specifically distanced the KMT from Taiwan independence and desinicization efforts.^[27]

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Desinicization
• Sinicization
• Special state-to-state relations
• Taiwanese localization movement