Chapter 1 The World's Tallest Building 5 In the 1930s,Japanese expansionism deepened the crisis facing the strug- emerged into the open.Many longtime residents believed that decades of gling ROC state,forcing Chinese of all political stripes to concentrate their subjugation to the KMT's "mission"had prevented Taiwan from develop- energies on resisting Japan's occupation of eastern China.But when World ing its own sense of nationhood and pursuing its own destiny,while those War Il ended,conflict between the KMT and CCP reignited and the Chinese who subscribed to the KMT's view feared that allowing Taiwan to claim a Civil War began.Four years later,in 1949,the Communists proclaimed a status separate from China would foreclose forever the possibility of a non- new Chinese state,the People's Republic of China (PRC),and the defeated Communist China.When the People's Republic of China weighed in with ROC government fled to Taiwan.Its president,Chiang Kai-shek,moved its preferences,it became clear that redefining Taiwan's identity could also into the building at the west end of Hsinyi Road. bring it into a potentially catastrophic confrontation with Beijing. For the ROC government and the 1.5 million refugees who joined the The PRC maintains that Taiwan has been Chinese territory for centu- exodus to Taiwan,the island was not a homeland but a place of exile.For ries,so it is Chinese territory today.Beijing does not recognize the ROC's the next forty years they devoted themselves to the task of keeping the legitimacy;in its view,the Communists'victory in 1949 extinguished the Republic of China alive in the hope that it might someday return to the Republic,leaving the PRC as the only state representing the Chinese nation. mainland in triumph,drive the Communists from power,and restore itself The fact that the Chinese government does not currently rule Taiwan is a as the reigning Chinese state.To this end,they built Taiwan into a launch historical anomaly that must be rectified. ing pad from which to mount their campaign to "recover the mainland." For decades,the PRC's position was the inverse of the ROC's:it swore to The 6 million people already living in Taiwan when the refugees arrived "liberate"Taiwan,to annex it to the PRC by force.In 1979,a new genera- had a very different view.For them,Taiwan was the only homeland they tion of PRC leaders,determined to open China to the world,traded in that had ever known.Though their ancestors had lived in Taiwan for centuries, policy for a less bellicose objective:"peaceful unification."Since the early most families could trace their origins to the mainland,and many had been 2000s,Beijing has emphasized patience,arguing that unification need not eager to see the end of Japanese colonialism.Still,the ROC's policies re- come soon.Still,its bottom line is firm:Taiwan must not renounce unifica- duced Taiwan to a pawn in a fight between the Kuomintang and the Com- tion.If it does,say PRC leaders,China's sacred territory will be severed,and munist Party-two entities whose goals and aspirations had little relation that is an outcome they refuse to accept.As Premier Wen Jiabao put it in a to those of ordinary Taiwanese 2003 interview with the Washington Post,"The Chinese people will pay any The Kuomintang's driving ambition was to recover mainland China,but price to safeguard the unity of the motherland."Myriad policy statements the economic policies it adopted in pursuit of that goal were transforma- and comments from Chinese leaders leave no room for doubt:the price tive.Under the protection of the United States,which regarded Taiwan they are willing to pay includes war. as a crucial bulwark against Communist expansion,the KMT adopted a Taiwanese see the situation very differently.They are at best deeply am- state-led economic development plan that soon put Taiwan on the road to bivalent about unification.The reasons for Taiwanese people's reluctance to prosperity.As chapter 3 details,the little island was a global leader in light unify with the PRC have changed since the 1940s,but the fact of that reluc- manufacturing by the 1970s.It continued to clamber up the value chain in tance has not.In the early decades,Taiwan's government taught its people the 1980s and 1990s to take its place as a leading high-tech center,a story to resist the PRC out of loyalty to the ROC;it was the PRC,not China,that Itell in chapter 6. was to be rejected.Over time,though,the appeal of"China"has faded. Economic growth did not bring political reform,at least not right away. As the island's democracy grew and deepened,the political gulf between As the likelihood of an ROC return to the mainland diminished,more Taiwan and the mainland widened.Today,many Taiwanese resist the and more Taiwanese began to question-at first in secret,and then more PRC because they value the political and economic freedom they enjoy as openly-the ROC's determination to prioritize its mainland recovery proj- citizens of an ROC whose jurisdiction is limited to Taiwan.They still op- ect ahead of the island's social and political modernization.Some-nearly pose folding Taiwan into the PRC,but they now see little benefit in giving all of them living outside Taiwan,beyond the reach of Chiang Kai-shek's up what they have to become part of any Chinese state headquartered on secret police-even went so far as to advocate making a clean break,that the mainland-even a non-Communist one."Little Taiwan"is enough for is,declaring Taiwan independent,not just of the PRC or the ROC,but of them,not least because 1.3 billion mainland people and their leaders in- China itself. evitably would dominate a unified Chinese state. In the 1980s and 1990s,Taiwan's political system evolved from single- If few Taiwanese are ready to risk losing their way of life for an abstract party authoritarianism under the KMT to multiparty democracy,and the notion like the territorial integrity of China,there is little more enthusiasm debate over how Taiwan should view its relationship with the mainland for putting that way of life at risk for a different abstract notion,Taiwan
6 Chapter 1 The World's Tallest Building 7 independence.In the parlance of pollsters,the mainstream preference,one Taiwan's economic prosperity,too,rests on maintaining a cordial relation- shared by three-fourths of Taiwanese,is to "maintain the status quo."The ship with the PRC,an economic and military powerhouse just one hundred Chinese phrase used in surveys translates as "preserve the way things are miles away.Moreover,he argues,reducing tensions between the two sides now,and that captures well what most Taiwanese hope to do,recogniz- might induce China to lift its embargo on Taiwan's participation in inter- ing that "the way things are now"includes not foreclosing the possibility national institutions,a necessary step if Taiwan is to be fully incorporated of unification someday and continuing to fly the Republic of China flag into a rapidly integrating global economy. today.As U.S.Senator James Leach has said,Taiwan can have democracy or Ma's approach reflects his party's preference for cooperation with the independence,but not both.Increasingly,too,Taiwan's economic prosper- mainland.As inheritors of a tradition that stresses mainland recovery and ity rests on maintaining cooperative relations with China,which is its top Chinese nationalism (the party's official English name is the Chinese Na- target for trade and investment. tionalist Party),it is hard for today's KMT politicians to abandon unifica- This,then,is the central dilemma facing Taiwan:how to live both freely tion as a goal.At the same time,however,they well know that unification and at peace.The PRC insists that if Taiwan does not at least pay lip service has little appeal for Taiwanese voters-and the PRC's Communist system to unification,war is inevitable,but the vast majority of Taiwanese prefer to has been anathema to their party for decades.The way they square this avoid unification as long as they can.Navigating this narrow passage is the circle is by holding out the hope that the two sides might someday sit down central challenge facing Taiwan's leaders and voters.The high stakes and and negotiate to create a united,non-Communist Chinese nation attractive limited options help to explain why Taiwanese pursue politics with such enough to win over Taiwan. uncommon passion. While it refuses to rule out the possibility of unification in the future- Charles Kao,the founder and head of Commonwealth Publishing,one both for ideological and strategic reasons-the KMT is in no hurry to bring of Taiwan's most important news organizations,had that passion in mind it about.Ma himself has repeatedly said that it will not happen while he is when he observed,"If you don't read newspapers or watch TV,Taipei is the president,and he has set democratization of the mainland as a precondi- most beautiful place to live in the world.If you do read newspapers and tion for starting any kind of unification process.His party appears willing watch TV,it's the worst!"Politics is at once Taiwan's national sport and to prolong the status quo indefinitely.Needless to say,Ma's counterparts its national shame.Taiwanese love to criticize their boisterous politicians, in Beijing find his preferences far from ideal-they would like to see move- and most seem genuinely embarrassed when their lawmakers pummel each ment toward unification now,and they scoff at his advice regarding politi- other or hurl their lunches across hearing rooms.Still,those same Taiwan- cal reform-but they find him infinitely preferable to the alternative. ese are the audience that sustains twenty-four-hour news talk shows and That alternative would be a president representing the Democratic nonstop partisan combat. Progressive Party (DPP),the political party that grew out of Taiwan's pro- Part of the reason politics is so exciting in Taiwan is that democracy is democracy movement.A Democratic Progressive held the presidency from still relatively new there,and it is very much a spectator sport in a country 2000 to 2008,and those years confirmed Beijing's darkest fears about what small enough that anyone who wants one can have a ringside seat.Still, a DPP government would be like.President Chen Shui-bian's policies aimed what makes politics so relentless in Taiwan is the need to manage an ex- to maximize the psychological distance between Taiwan and the mainland. ceptionally difficult problem:balancing Taiwan citizens'desire to maintain, While Chen was careful to maintain plausible deniability on claims that he even enrich,the benefits they enjoy as a self-governing democracy with the was trying to engineer permanent independence for Taiwan,the PRC was need to pacify,or at least keep at bay,the PRC's demand for unification. convinced that was his aim-as were many Taiwanese and Americans. Differences of opinion about precisely what Taiwan should be striving for Given Beijing's determination to "pay any price"to stop Taiwan from and how to achieve it are at the heart of the island's political life. becoming independent,it is hard to imagine how Chen could have pulled Taiwan's twenty-first-century presidents exemplify the predominant off such a feat,especially in a democratic nation in which his political op- viewpoints on these questions.The president elected in 2008,Ma Ying- ponents controlled the legislature and the vast majority of voters opposed jeou,believes Taiwan's best hope for maintaining the status quo-de facto taking such a risk.But whether or not he spent his presidency scheming,as separation,albeit short of full independence-is to cultivate friendly ties Beijing put it,to "split China,"there is no question he devoted himself to with the mainland.In his view,Taiwan must persuade the PRC that al- making unification more difficult. lowing Taiwanese to run their own affairs for the foreseeable future will For eight years,direct communication between the two sides stalled be- not undermine Beijing's long-term goals or violate its short-term interests. cause Chen refused to meet Beijing's preconditions for talks.First among
8 Chapter I The World's Tallest Building these was the PRC requirement that Chen accept the principle that Taiwan and the mainland are part of"one China."That alone was a deal killer for pealed to the so-called "Light Greens"-Taiwanese who recognize the risks Chen,above all because the PRC'sone China"principle also states that the of independence,but are wary of too much contact with the mainland- Beijing goverment is the sole legal authority over all of China.To Chen- and even to some "Light Blues"-centrist Taiwanese who lean toward the and many others-Beijing's precondition looked a lot like surrender.The KMT,but not strongly. PRCrelaxed its stance when President Ma came into office,and talks resumed It may seem odd that Taiwan politics is so passionate when-with the ex- without Taiwan ever explicitly accepting Beijing's One China Principle. ception of the Deep Greens-most people agree that,one way or another,the With cross-Strait talks suspended,Chen's domestic policies aimed to best option is to preserve the status quo.Paradoxically,though,it is precisely reinforce Taiwan people's sense of themselves as separate and different because the goal is clear,but still very hard to attain,that the fight over how from mainland Chinese.His government revised textbooks to emphasize best to pursue it has become so intense.For example,President Ma's approach Taiwan's history and geography.It rebranded numerous state-owned cor. undoubtedly protects Taiwan in the short run.It minimizes the chances of porations,replacing"China"in their names with "Taiwan,"and it tried, conflict with the PRC,it maximizes mutually beneficial cooperation between with little success,to stem the flow of Taiwanese business to the mainland. the two sides,and it does not rule out any possibility in the long term.But Some of Taiwan's most famous landmarks got makeovers.The Chiang Kai- there is risk in this approach.Interdependence constrains the PRC,but it con- shek Memorial-a massive,sepulchral white marble pyramid that houses a strains Taiwan,too,and many Taiwanese worry that being the small player in thirty-three-foot bronze statue of Chiang Kai-shek upstairs and an exhibit this game puts Taiwan at particular risk.Today's cooperative engagement can of his effects(including his armored limousine)below-was renamed the become tomorrow's coercive leverage,and China is vastly larger and insists it "National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall. will sacrifice its people's short-term interests to achieve its strategic goals. The episode degenerated into farce.The Chen administration down- Another force driving Taiwan's politics is a debate over the country's graded the site's landmark status so it could seize jurisdiction over it from international status.In the Deep Greens'view,Taiwan leaders'refusal to Taipei City,at which point the Ministry of Education hastily unveiled new challenge the PRC too overtly inhibits Taiwan from becoming a "normal placards and closed off Chiang's statue.Meanwhile,the KMT-led Taipei country."To survive as an autonomous political entity,Taiwan has ac- City government and legislature scrambled to undo the changes.Chen's cepted a compromise.It cannot call itself the Republic of Taiwan,but it move was not only calculated to impress his political base,it was also part can and does assert the statehood of the Republic of China,a state once of a larger effort to encourage Taiwanese to relinquish the pro-China,pro- universally recognized,now reduced in territory but still robust within its unification mentality Chiang and his party had inculcated and embrace a own jurisdiction.That compromise satisfies everyone,and it satisfies no more DPP-friendly,Taiwanese-only identity. one.It allows the KMT to hold its head up before its founding fathers,and The most enthusiastic audience for Chen's policies were people known it allows the PRC to claim Taiwan still calls itself "Chinese."It allows the as"Deep Greens"-folks with a fondness for Taiwan independence and a DPP to ferment the wine of an independent Taiwan within the bottle of the bred-in-the-bone antipathy to the KMT.In their view,even Chen Shui-bian ROC.But none of the three sees itself drawing closer to its ultimate goal. was disappointingly moderate.The Deep Greens do not accept that formal Taipei 101 is modern,sleek,and impressive;it celebrates Taiwan's eco- independence is unattainable.If the PRC collapses,economically or politi- nomic success,including its high-tech ascendancy and extraordinary growth. cally,they argue,Taiwan should be able to wriggle free-if it's prepared. But the real reason it so quickly became not just an icon,but the icon of con- Another scenario they imagine is that Taiwan's timid public might grow temporary Taiwan,is that unlike every other symbol the island can muster, bolder and unite behind a gesture that would force the world to recognize Taipei 101 bears no political coloration.The tourist bureau favorites-the the Taiwan people's will for independence.In that case,they believe,other Chiang Kai-shek Memorial,the Longshan (Dragon Mountain)Temple,the nations-mainly the United States-would step in to help the newly inde. presidential office building,even the Grand Hotel-are freighted with history pendent Taiwan survive the PRC's punishment. and politics,too controversial to represent a nation still struggling for consen- Even the most fervent independence supporters acknowledge these sce- sus about its own past and future.Only Taipei 101 stands above the political narios are unlikely in the near term,but they are not ready to give up hope fray,evoking economics,technology,global business-the only languages that things may change in the future.Chen's determination to put as much Taiwanese seem able to speak without arguing. distance between Taiwan and China as possible reflected their logic even if It is in these realms that Taiwan has succeeded in becoming not an object he was never able to go as far as they would have liked.His policies also ap- but a subject;not a means to an end-the renaissance of Chinese civiliza- tion-but an end in itself.Politics is much more difficult.That is not to say