The New Taiwanese Identity and its Political and Economic Connections

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Taiwan was called the Republic of China in the past fifty years, but now, it is trying to change its official name to Taiwan. Along with the name change, the identity of Taiwanese people also shifts. The identity change of a nation never come without the political interference; yet the political decisions of the Taiwanese government are also connected with its economic policies. In this paper, I will try to solve the complex relationships between the Taiwanese national identity change, the political and economic policies, along with its relationships with its counterpart, the People’s Republic of China. Before getting into the analysis of the present situation, let’s review the history of Taiwan and the intertwined relationship between the PRC and the ROC. Taiwan island has only been seen as a significant place by a few emperors throughout the Chinese history. It has officially become a part of the Chinese territory since the Ming dynasty in17th century after the Dutch colonists were extruded from the island. Taiwan was then taken over by Japan in 1895, when the “Treaty of Shimonoseki” was signed after the defeat of the Qing military in the First Sino-Japanese War. Then the Republic of China regained Taiwan from Japanese control in 1945 when Japan surrendered at the end of the World War II. In early 1949, when the Chinese Nationalist Party Kuomintang (KMT) was defeated by the Communist Party of China (CPC) during the Chinese Civil War, the KMT retreated to the Island of Taiwan, which was the only territory left under the Republic of China’s (ROC) control. In the last two decades, ROC has been struggling in maintaining its international influence, while also trying to establish or reinforce a new national identity, Taiw... ... middle of paper ... ... Regional Stability, Palgrave Macmillan 2012. National Statistics, Statistics Department of the Executive Yuan. 2011. National Statistics, Republic of China, www. tradingeconomics.com, accessed on 12/10/2013 Ng, Yuzin Chiautong, Historical and Legal Aspects of the International Status of Taiwan (Formosa), World United Formosans for Independence (Tokyo), 1972. “Population of Taiwan”, china.com.cn, accessed on 12/12/2013 Rios, Xulio, “The Developent of Relations between Mainland China and Taiwan during Hu Jintao’s Term of Office:From the Anti-Session Law to the Enforcement of the ECFA”. Taiwan Fellowship Program 2012, Ministery of Freign Affrais, Republic of China. 2012 Rosen, Daniel, and Zhi Wang, “Deepening China-Taiwan Relations through hthe Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement”, peterson Institute for International Economics, No. PB10-16. 2010.

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