French Centre for Research on Contemporary China

Editorial
Author(s): PAUL JOBIN and FRANK MUYARD
Source: China Perspectives, No. 3 (83) (2010), pp. 2-4
Published by: French Centre for Research on Contemporary China
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/24054637
Accessed: 29-11-2015 12:54 UTC

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Feature

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Editorial

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PAN I JOBIN
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t the turn of the 2010s,

A:

considerable

f\i

and present achievements.

end

of World

to maintain

War

and sometimes

II, every decade,

led many to wonder

overcome

how

every

that have challenged

would

be able

to

such difficulties. And yet, not only have the coun

try and its people

but they have
"miracles":

survived and surmounted

even

to generate

managed

First, an "economic

miracle"

2000s

witnessed

the one hand,

the deepening

a historical

transfer of power

embodied

practically

democratisation

a prosperous

econo

system, then in engineer

democratic

with the transformation

and open

in Asia

societies

Twenty years ago, Taiwan

of one of the old

into one

systems

supported

and Taiwanisation

and the world.

the

Teng-hui,

first native

Taiwanese

Taiwanese

nationalism

a source

the international

an

both in Taiwan

of tensions,

and

ideology

Taiwan

abroad
and in

conflicts

PRC's
been

have

with

directly

the

pretensionof sover

menaces

and

military gestures

part of the regular

background

and the Taiwan

implicitcoalitionbetweenKMT reformers

in the mid-1990sat the

since 1949. Their intensification

centred

time of the first wave

main

political

party, the

opposition

Democratic

ProgressiveParty (DPP, Minjindang). During the 1990s,

elites, with the support of the electorate,

the political

ally but profoundly

democratised

and Taiwanised

democratic

election

of the country's

National

and

Assembly

to the Constitution

a series of amendments
present situation. The

native Taiwanese

to adapt

majority (at least 85

largely excluded

from genuine

percent

of the population),

national

and local power until the end of the 1980s,

ed to the highest echelons

it to the

of the state, in the executive,

cal spectrum

to further radicalise

between

and the pro-China

the pro-Taiwan

govern

the Taiwanese

politi

independence

camp

camp led by a Chinese

of the population
tion from China

nationalism-reori

in favour of the present and future separa

under the code-name

On the other hand, the Taiwanese

development

toward

generating

status quo).

economy
service,

high-tech,

and a growing dependency

cost manufacturing

leg

under

entedKMT underLien Chan and Ma Ying-jeou(withmost

economy

ascend

of the ROC

during the eight years of DPP

unabated

ment, and served

LegislativeYuan by (and onlyby) the Taiwanese electorate

in 1991 and 1992, directpresidentialelectionin 1996, and

of Taiwanisation

Lee Teng-hui,manifestedby the missilescrisisin 1995-96,

continued

gradu

the politi

cal institutions
of the Republic of China (ROC), originally
founded in 1912 and transferred
to Taiwan in 1949: full

pursued
and

on China

in unemployment

export-led
for the low

and selling of Taiwan-designed

an increase

its dual

among

products,
the working

islative,and judicialbranches,as well as in the main region

and

al and local governments.

and professionalsto China in hopes of tapping

white-collars

At the same

China

to

Taiwanese

tourism

process

of industrial

flight and

the advantage

of China

and

time, the opening

investment

hollowing

and Taiwanese

started

out of Taiwan
industrialists,

of
a
to

while

lower

classes

and

steady

into the vast pool of well-paid

Taiwanese

of Taiwanese

jobs and businesses

and foreign companies

in the greater Shanghai

migration

installed

area.

2
N

recognition

community, since it threatens the old KMT

eignty over Taiwan.

against

identity. But

the administration's

and

international

efforts to push for Taiwan's

which gradual

identity for a new dem

People's Republic of China (PRC)'s

Lee

with

president,

national

and multicultural

Chinese-centred

under the leadership of the Kuomintang(KMT)'s

of the country, a process

by the majority of the population,

have also been

of the most

an era of democratisation

entered

from the

societies)

two subsequent

that saw the island

ing a world-leadinghigh-techindustrialsociety; second, a

authoritarian

in
(the

furthered
the
KMT, Chen Shui-bian'sDPP administration

inclusive,

miracle"

Re-elected

of regime.

locus of power in all democratic

essential

the rise of Taiwanese

"political

after more

these obstacles,

ocratic,

est party-state

On

candidate,

to wrest control of the Parliament

U.S.-Ied

subcontract

of the DPP

to the opposition

the change

but still unable

2004,

on the coattailsofJapanand on the basis of the

my,initially
international

emporium

Chen Shui-bian,in the 2000 presidentialelectionheralded

its former Chinese

poverty to create

and man

of both processes.

the surprise election

ly shed

rise from post-WWII

and silicon

than 50 years of KMT hegemony,and symbolicallyand

its socio

of the country and

the Taiwanese

industrial

turned itself from a low-cost

gradually

into an electronic

ufacturing base.
The

the

confronted with a series of

system or even the independence

political

the island
economy

living in or close

like nothing new. Since

other year, the country has been

crises, threats, and pressures

economic,

and further its past

For the people

it sounds

Taiwan,

ly watching

in the political,

challenges

and security spheres

is once again facing

Taiwan

2 0 10/3

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among

the

there, especially

The electionof Ma Ying-jeouin 2008 seemed to signalthe

desire

of the Taiwanese

sions

between

Taiwan

the

to put an end to the political

only consolidated

and

between

and to benefit more from China's

growth. For some,

nomic

nationalisms

opposing

and China,

this second

Taiwanese

ten

eco

transfer of power

democracy

not

but also announced

a possible shiftin national identityand futurepolitical

in regards to China

prospects

and the unification

of the two

results of his policy of rapprochement

ambivalent

and needs

expectations

between

of national

initiated by Ma

democratic

Taiwanese

politics,

and features that define

of Taiwanese

evolution

such

society,

national

as

identity, economic

withChina and risingincomeinequality,interna

integration
tionalisationof the populationand lifestyle,
or the building
of a multiethnic

and multicultural

nition of the various

new communities

including

and spouses).

All these

in the past

accelerate

(with more recog

society

ethnic groups that compose

of Southeast

Asian

trends have tended

10 years, sometimes

in a thought-pro

how the new detente with China

is fraught with unanswered

Ying-jeou

gap

and the president in term

Cabestan,

identity. Jean-Pierre

tions and dangers

in any of the main processes

mainstream

voking paper, then analyses

fortunes of

as well as the increasing

camps,

the Taiwanese

of recent

Analyses

also show the changing

the two main political

In hindsight,however,2008 did not constitutea major

the contemporary

of the Taiwanese.

polls and local elections

sides.
change

with China

and the difficulty

the KMT has had in respondingto the

for Taiwan's

ques

security and long-term sover

eignty:while Chinese economic influenceon the island is

growing and Beijing
and weapons
has

been

about

increasing

Taiwan's

defence

now

security

new debates

support, opening

the meaning

the number of missiles

at the island, Taiwan's

stagnating.
on US

depends

keeps

directed

effort

increasingly

in Washington

and viability of its commitment.

the nation,

The

immigrants

grationwithChina's is addressedby Philippe Chevalerias's

to deepen

and

even against the

issue of Taiwan's

article, which

wishes of the successive DPP and KMT administrations. and

and its transformation

of the Chinese

opportunities

of its inte

the past 20 years of Taiwanese

analyses

nomic development

and the challenge

economy

eco

under the threats

market. Since

the end of

Beyond the political tussle and in spite of the genuine the 1980s, the liberalisationof trade across the Straithas
national

conflict and serious

faces, the 2010

whole

decade

security challenges

in Taiwan

by the consolidation

of a democratic

ety and nation that manages

cultural complexity

to accept

rather well.

that Taiwan

may thus be defined

The

as a

and distinct soci

its diversity and socio

progress

of collective

and individualrightshas also been accompanied by the

building

of a knowledge

and culture-based

free society that

is more openly critical of itself and more open

to the rest of

the world.
therefore attempts to high

Perspectives

light the current changes

and challenges

of Taiwanese

soci

itsrelationship
withChina or in find
ety,be it in redefining
ing better solutions
issues

eight articles
of

domestic
mation,

to the numerous

the Taiwanese

ing to consolidate

aspects

ty on

the

around

selected
Taiwan's

politics,
labour

in daily, while

engage

continu

its main features and values.

here

touch

recent

relations

and

political

and socio-eco

some

upon

and

of the main

contemporary

with China,

environmental

economic

issues,

The

national

entrepreneurs
but

island,

Taiwanese

economy

tion base.

While

Economic

to restructure their activi

same

time

has

made

tied to its mainland

the

produc

Framework

Cooperation

Agreement(ECFA) recentlysignedwithBeijing may gen

erate

increased

Strait, it does

trade and

al weaknesses

of its economy.

is a democracy,
corporations
articles

extended

by

it has

Moreover,

industries

free

trade

might force the government

angles.

this variable
Taiwanese

democracy

not only because

also for the dynamism

transfor

tection has been

of political

The

sociology

created

and social

with

because

to partly modify their agenda.

address

approaches

which

of the

to tackle the structur

the future remains open precisely

However,

various

on both sides

the traditional

among

threatened

groups

investment

not directly help Taiwan

change:

history,

at the

increasingly
the

strong opposition

This issue of China

nomic

the island's

pushed

China.
Taiwan
and big
next two
through

merits a plurality of

of its colourful

elections,

of its civil society. Environmental

at the core of the movement

but
pro

for democra

shows how envi

cy since the mid-1980s.Paul Jobinfurther

culturalpolicies,and ethnicgroups.Each studymanifestsin ronmentaland labour NGOs have been fighting

the state
its own field how democraticdynamics,political change, and corporationsthroughoriginalformsof mobilisationin
individualagency,community
building,and scientificknowl
edge

have

Taiwanese
The

been

shaping

present

view the country's

opening

society,

and

the way the

present, past, and future.

article by Frank Muyard

looks into the first two

years of the Ma Ying-jeou administration,

stressingthe

theirstruggleto increase the visibilityof industrialhazards,

from nuclear

to chemical,

the fact that the Green

ginal in the electoral
actions

of Taiwanese

electronics,

and the like. Despite

Party and leftist parties remain mar

contest, these NGOs

industry in regards

do challenge

the

to environmental

N 2 0 10/3

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Feature

Special

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>

A.
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4-J
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protection,
unions

and labour

health,

public

will be necessary

scale.

As Chin-fen

of political

regardless

to support

and

economic

class and the petite bourgeoisie

stronger unions.
yield

to the influence

issues

remains
address

and

academic

for Taiwan:

national

tory, politics,

the working

changes,

have consistently

of business

last three articles

found out,

Chang

But all past administrations

power, and unionisation

The

that effort on a larger

and Heng-hao

Chang

trade

rights. Stronger

for

wished

have tended

to

in limiting union

groups

low in Taiwan.
the interaction

research

between

on three

history, cultural

his

significant

and

museum

policies, and ethnic groups. Damien Morier-Genoudfirst

the development

retraces
of a new
terns

Chinese

on the conditions
detail

and the 2000s

freed from the pat

history of Taiwan,

of nationalist

focuses
more

scientific

during the 1990s

The

historiography.

of this history and

the work of two Taiwanese

article

examines

historians

in

looking

beyondthe divisionsof politicalperiodisationintothe long

how
termdynamicsof Taiwanese history.It also highlights
the emergence

of this new

from important

institutional

both postcolonial

the

the modern

the complex

support,

and

has

and world history approaches

of

understanding
towards

has

historiography

transition

era.

mixing of cultural

the controversies
and the country's

of

Edward
and

the

to nurture Chinese

regime
the late

1980s

historical

trend was accentuated

istration's
2008

more

seems

to have also

although

to China

approach

since

into the realm of muse

extended

reactivity of Taiwanese
scientific and profession

of museum

al background
managed

forums for debate

important

museums

administrators,

a relative autonomy

to maintain

have

and may serve as

over the history, culture,

and

identityofTaiwanese society.Finally,Dominic Meng-hsuan

and Mau-kuei

Yang

community

Chang

Offering an overview
past

few decades,

context
Taiwan

present

of Taiwanese

of the

a seminal

"mainlanders"

of the research
the authors

community's

as well as the various

paper

(waishengren).

on waishengren

in the

the socio-political

analyse
history

on the

since

its arrival

used

approaches

in

to study it,

and highlightthe significantdiversityand nuances within

and

stressing

Adding

and

the new admin

society, as well as the increasingly

and agency.

identity, in the recent DPP

This

distinctiveness.

ums. Yet, thanks to the democratic

tion studies

of the past

consensus

cultural

accommodative

to further its

agendas,

have since

a growing

after 2000,

studies"

and

museums

reflected

and

for "waishengren

society

patriotism,

increasingly

over Taiwan's

of use by the KMT

After decades

policies.

this community.

then addresses

political

museum

from

drawn

island's

Vickers

linked to different conceptions

national

benefited

KMT

waishengren,

also

They

the importance

on

other

agenda
of migra

of both

history

to our perception

could be a model

research

torical/sociological

a new research

on a perspective

more complexity

the paper

groups in Taiwan.

propose
based

of

for more such his

ethnic

N 2 0 10/3

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and

social