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Explaining Dual Identity in Taiwan: A Two-Dimensional Perspective on National Identity
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Abstract
The national identity of the general populace in Taiwan has experi-
enced rapid change in the past fifteen years since the democratic tran-sition. On of the most salient phenomena of identity change, revealedby many interview surveys, is the predominance of self-identificationas “both Taiwan and Chinese”, and of preference to the status quo. Incontrast with the current theories and explanations, which often pre-sume national identities are mutually exclusive, this paper proposesa two-dimensional perspective of national identity, which allows us abetter understanding of those important, and sometimes intriguing,phenomena concerning the change of national identity in Taiwan.
Using the data collected from various nationwide interview sur-
veys in the last decade, this paper finds that, firstly and contrary tothe conventional perception, the pattern of national identity change inTaiwan is that Chinese identity has been able to remain stable whileTaiwanese identity was on a rapid surge. The phenomenon seems tosuggest that the two identities were not antagonistic to, but compat-ible with, each other. The co-existence of two national identities hasthe result that a large portion of people uphold dual national identity.Many previous studies either assumed dual identity as a combinationof “civic-political” identity with “ethnic-cultural” one, or as that ofregional identity with national identity. Contrary to these views, thispaper argues that both identities are “national” in their nature andcontent. The latter scenario has important implications for both thenationalist politics in Taiwan and the security of the area as well.
With the transition to democracy in Taiwan in the late 1980’s, challenges tothe authoritarian regime have been settled, while disputes on the nature ofthe state were aggravated. A new Taiwanese nationalist movement emergedside by side with the orthodox Chinese nationalism. It is widely noted thatTaiwan is among the cases that native nationalist movement was given fullexpression by the democratic transition. (Wang 1994; Watchman 1994; Lin2001, 2002; Lynch 2002/2003). Since then, national identity has become themost salient issue in Taiwan’s politics. It observed that identity issue hasbeen the only social cleavage, along which political parties in Taiwan aredivided. The importance of the issue is not limited within domestic politics.The rise of a new Taiwanese national identity has wielded, and is going towield for some time to come, a large impact on the relationship betweenTaiwan and PRC (People’s Republic of China) as well as the stability and
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| | Authors: Shen, Shiau-chi. |
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Abstract
The national identity of the general populace in Taiwan has experi-
enced rapid change in the past fifteen years since the democratic tran-
sition. On of the most salient phenomena of identity change, revealed
by many interview surveys, is the predominance of self-identification
as “both Taiwan and Chinese”, and of preference to the status quo. In
contrast with the current theories and explanations, which often pre-
sume national identities are mutually exclusive, this paper proposes
a two-dimensional perspective of national identity, which allows us a
better understanding of those important, and sometimes intriguing,
phenomena concerning the change of national identity in Taiwan.
Using the data collected from various nationwide interview sur-
veys in the last decade, this paper finds that, firstly and contrary to
the conventional perception, the pattern of national identity change in
Taiwan is that Chinese identity has been able to remain stable while
Taiwanese identity was on a rapid surge. The phenomenon seems to
suggest that the two identities were not antagonistic to, but compat-
ible with, each other. The co-existence of two national identities has
the result that a large portion of people uphold dual national identity.
Many previous studies either assumed dual identity as a combination
of “civic-political” identity with “ethnic-cultural” one, or as that of
regional identity with national identity. Contrary to these views, this
paper argues that both identities are “national” in their nature and
content. The latter scenario has important implications for both the
nationalist politics in Taiwan and the security of the area as well.
With the transition to democracy in Taiwan in the late 1980’s, challenges to
the authoritarian regime have been settled, while disputes on the nature of
the state were aggravated. A new Taiwanese nationalist movement emerged
side by side with the orthodox Chinese nationalism. It is widely noted that
Taiwan is among the cases that native nationalist movement was given full
expression by the democratic transition. (Wang 1994; Watchman 1994; Lin
2001, 2002; Lynch 2002/2003). Since then, national identity has become the
most salient issue in Taiwan’s politics. It observed that identity issue has
been the only social cleavage, along which political parties in Taiwan are
divided. The importance of the issue is not limited within domestic politics.
The rise of a new Taiwanese national identity has wielded, and is going to
wield for some time to come, a large impact on the relationship between
Taiwan and PRC (People’s Republic of China) as well as the stability and
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