NOTE: I did make some changes to this as it was published this afternoon (including the horrible grammatical mistake in the title)
This is a post that's likely to get a lot of people peeved, which is certainly not my intention, but it seems inevitable. Fortunately, the more miffed you are, the more likely you are to tell me how you feel.
I had the opportunity this past weekend to talk to someone who knows a little bit about Taiwan. We spoke for several hours not just about Taiwan, though it -- and its relation with China -- garnered most of our attention.
There was one theme, in particular, that kept coming up over and over during the conversation which I want to mention. "But," he would say, motioning to the tables full of boisterous, young Taiwanese college students at the tables around us, "Do you think all of these young kids are going to be willing fight for Taiwan?"
Sure, it's easy to sit around, looking at a bunch of half-drunk Taiwanese twenty-somethings and say to yourself, He's got a point. But, I've been thinking about it since then, asking myself if I agree or not.
Back home, I feel confident that most people are/would be willing to fight for the US if it were to be attacked and that they would do it because they believe that the US is the greatest place in the world and they want to protect it.
All of the interactions that I have had with Taiwanese people my age lead me to feel that they wouldn't be so likely to fight if there ever were to be an attack from the big guy next door.
This very well could be a false conclusion derived from the impression I get that most young Taiwanese -- the so-called "Strawberry Generation" -- pay little attention to Taiwanese current events because they feel that it's all a sham anyway. They seem to feel that their politicians are all corrupt drama-queens that treat the Legislative Yuan more like a sandbox than the highest lawmaking body in the land and have a tendency to whore themselves out to anyone who has a camera and a microphone (this view, by and large, is probably true).
Can you blame them? They're too young to remember things like the Kaohsiung Incident or even more so the general repressive power that the KMT wielded prior to the 1990's. They've grown up with an education system that through the 90's -- if not to this very day -- teaches the KMT's version of history and civic duty. The freedom's their press has gained over the past several decades have been dictated, largely, by an almost pornographic desire to show and tell, without the burden of giving context, proof, or dissenting voices.
So, when I imagine the scenario, I imagine the Chinese coming, saying, "You can keep your jobs, and your houses. We're not going to do anything. We're just going to take the pesky burden of governing yourselves democratically off your shoulders."
Sure, I don't think people would be happy about it or even at ease about it, but at the same time, I wonder if the youth -- after all, they would be the ones fighting, wouldn't they? -- would be asking themselves, "Fight? What for? A do-nothing government full of crooks and gangsters? Freedom of the press? Who needs it when you don't get any valuable information from this media theater?"
Most of the people I know, don't want anything to do with China, politically, but, at the same time, I don't get the impression that they believe strongly enough in the idea of a free, self-governing Taiwan that they would fight for it.
As the person I spoke to the other night did every time our conversation came back to this, let me remind you where I'm coming from. I'm hoping I'll be sufficiently convinced that I'm wrong. I love Taiwan. I have been amazed at the kindness that has been shown to me here. I also believe that Taiwan is and should be recognized as a sovereign nation. The fact, if anything, sufficient proof of the injustice and double-standards that are a part of international relations.
I also know that I live in the north, which is one of the last places, if I'm not mistaken, that the KMT still has any sway. I've heard things could be quite different outside of Taipei county.
Asking these kinds of questions, though, and being the Devil's Advocate is important in learning and being truthful with yourself about the realities of the situation.
Questions:
1) Are those in the "Strawberry Generation" willing to fight for Taiwan? By fight, I don't mean specifically as a soldier with a gun, but any of the manifestations of will and determination used to combat injustice, of which there are a number.
2) Should the United States be willing to risk spilling soldiers' blood if it is not sure that young Taiwanese men and women would be willing to risk their lives alongside them, fighting for a place they believe in?
This is a post that's likely to get a lot of people peeved, which is certainly not my intention, but it seems inevitable. Fortunately, the more miffed you are, the more likely you are to tell me how you feel.
I had the opportunity this past weekend to talk to someone who knows a little bit about Taiwan. We spoke for several hours not just about Taiwan, though it -- and its relation with China -- garnered most of our attention.
There was one theme, in particular, that kept coming up over and over during the conversation which I want to mention. "But," he would say, motioning to the tables full of boisterous, young Taiwanese college students at the tables around us, "Do you think all of these young kids are going to be willing fight for Taiwan?"
Sure, it's easy to sit around, looking at a bunch of half-drunk Taiwanese twenty-somethings and say to yourself, He's got a point. But, I've been thinking about it since then, asking myself if I agree or not.
Back home, I feel confident that most people are/would be willing to fight for the US if it were to be attacked and that they would do it because they believe that the US is the greatest place in the world and they want to protect it.
All of the interactions that I have had with Taiwanese people my age lead me to feel that they wouldn't be so likely to fight if there ever were to be an attack from the big guy next door.
This very well could be a false conclusion derived from the impression I get that most young Taiwanese -- the so-called "Strawberry Generation" -- pay little attention to Taiwanese current events because they feel that it's all a sham anyway. They seem to feel that their politicians are all corrupt drama-queens that treat the Legislative Yuan more like a sandbox than the highest lawmaking body in the land and have a tendency to whore themselves out to anyone who has a camera and a microphone (this view, by and large, is probably true).
Can you blame them? They're too young to remember things like the Kaohsiung Incident or even more so the general repressive power that the KMT wielded prior to the 1990's. They've grown up with an education system that through the 90's -- if not to this very day -- teaches the KMT's version of history and civic duty. The freedom's their press has gained over the past several decades have been dictated, largely, by an almost pornographic desire to show and tell, without the burden of giving context, proof, or dissenting voices.
So, when I imagine the scenario, I imagine the Chinese coming, saying, "You can keep your jobs, and your houses. We're not going to do anything. We're just going to take the pesky burden of governing yourselves democratically off your shoulders."
Sure, I don't think people would be happy about it or even at ease about it, but at the same time, I wonder if the youth -- after all, they would be the ones fighting, wouldn't they? -- would be asking themselves, "Fight? What for? A do-nothing government full of crooks and gangsters? Freedom of the press? Who needs it when you don't get any valuable information from this media theater?"
Most of the people I know, don't want anything to do with China, politically, but, at the same time, I don't get the impression that they believe strongly enough in the idea of a free, self-governing Taiwan that they would fight for it.
As the person I spoke to the other night did every time our conversation came back to this, let me remind you where I'm coming from. I'm hoping I'll be sufficiently convinced that I'm wrong. I love Taiwan. I have been amazed at the kindness that has been shown to me here. I also believe that Taiwan is and should be recognized as a sovereign nation. The fact, if anything, sufficient proof of the injustice and double-standards that are a part of international relations.
I also know that I live in the north, which is one of the last places, if I'm not mistaken, that the KMT still has any sway. I've heard things could be quite different outside of Taipei county.
Asking these kinds of questions, though, and being the Devil's Advocate is important in learning and being truthful with yourself about the realities of the situation.
Questions:
1) Are those in the "Strawberry Generation" willing to fight for Taiwan? By fight, I don't mean specifically as a soldier with a gun, but any of the manifestations of will and determination used to combat injustice, of which there are a number.
2) Should the United States be willing to risk spilling soldiers' blood if it is not sure that young Taiwanese men and women would be willing to risk their lives alongside them, fighting for a place they believe in?
9 comments:
My wife is 26, doesn't quite make her part of the straw berry generation, but she would fight for Taiwan. We're in UK at the moment, even here she is constantly involved in Taiwanese issues.
Right now she's peeved the Taipei Girls High School did not show the Taiwanese flag while performing in the Scotland tattoo show.
This gives me a difficult question, and I don't want to be funny or anything, but if you were married to a Taiwanese, would you fight for Taiwan? Something I've thought about at length, but have no conclusion yet.
Do you know if the Taipei Girls High School was allowed to show the Taiwanese flag? We something recently about Taiwanese kids at a science fair in Germany. They had a very small Taiwanese flag on their shirts, and they Chinese students there got angry, called the embassy, and soon German officials were coming with duct tape to cover the flag on their shirt.
It was humiliating and unnecessary.
About whether I'd fight for Taiwan or not, I would. That doesn't necessarily mean I'd pick up a gun and run for the mountains, but I'd do my part.
That kind of stuff is really frustrating. Last year we organized a little international day featuring Taiwan in our stand, it upset a few Chinese, but we kept showing the flag. This little stand won the competition, and Taiwan got the floor to it's self for the main even. The next week the school got a few complaints from the Chinese embassy, with photo's of people involved.
I don't know if people in Taiwan realize how pushy and effective the Chinese are at suppressing Taiwanese presence internationally.
As for the Tattoo, liberty times quotes the Taipei school saying all countries participating in the tattoo were not allowed to show their flags. I remember seeing quite a few flags, USA, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand. Those are the ones I remember. So we are still finding out about that, I don't know for sure whether they were allowed to or who said they couldn't. Perhaps the school just never thought of showing the flag?
We'll just have to see. I'd say we're currently in a low point in will to fight because the education system has not recently pounded anti-communist rhetoric into kids' heads, and the pro-Taiwan rhetoric is only starting to be taught.
But I think there will be an upswing.
A war with China would be beyond terrible. Not just for the US, but for the entire world. It's a dangerous game they're playing with referendums. If you want to fight, fine. But what about those of us who don't?
As an American, I'm against any war that isn't necessary for our own national security. Iraq is bad enough. A war with China involving a dispute that goes back to WWII that the US isn't even directly a part of would be sheer insanity.
Be friendly with countries. Trade with them. That's the way to spread democracy. Nobody spreads liberty through the barrel of a gun.
Mark,
To be clear, I completely agree with you. I'm not talking about Taiwan going to war, so much as I'm talking about them defending Taiwan. When I say fight, which I mention at the end of this article, I mean with every means there is, the last of which is with guns. I don't advocate war. I don't want it. I hope it never comes to that.
I've mentioned several times here that more or less all of my hope for the future of Taiwan rests on trade. Peaceful trade.
It's imperative to acknowledge that the indifference here in Taiwan has a great affect on how it is perceived and acted upon outside.
War is the last thing I want. I hate to think about that as a possibility.
I am in my early-mid 30s, probably not in your so-called strawberry generation. But I've certainly gone through the KMT's brain-washing education. Fortunately, teachings from the elder generations and readings on the REAL Taiwanese history make me realize the crap that KMT has put in my head. I'm proud to say that I will fight for my beloved Taiwan with any means necessary, not just against the Chinese invasion, but also for the democracy, freedom, and human dignity that have been brought upon the island by countless brave hearts who have sacrificed themselves in the Taiwanese democratic movement. I don't know how many Taiwanese are like me, who can break out of the cursing KMT mentality. I hope there's more than a lot.
Well, I certainly hope that there are more young people in Taiwan -- whether they be green or blue -- who believe in their democracy and hope to strengthen it through their participation.
I believe the "strawberry generation" is only describing the children who still live under their parents financial supports. I, myslef is pretty careless about the international status of Taiwan when i was young. It doesn't mean we are not patriotic or we hate our country, it only mean we lives in a country without government brainwashing us when we were little. Unlike China, we don't need to constantly acting aggresive to show how much we love our country, becuase violen never last long. In school, morality is a big chunk of our education, and therefore majority of young generation in Taiwan is going to act nice. We never pull down China's flag during internation event, its because we are nice, not because we afriad.
As for if we will fight for Taiwan, i know i will, i know everyone of my friends will. We have live in Democracy for too long, can't live without it.
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