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By administratively redefining 'who is a foreigner,' the Lai government is turning the constitutional 'One China' framework into a dead letter
Link information
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- Title
- While Eyes Are on Takaichi, Taiwan's Lai Is Quietly Redefining the Status Quo
- Authors
- Jonathan Chen
- Word count
- 1465 words
This was an interesting read as someone who only has a surface level understanding of the political situation there.
My first thought was that creating a legal paradox for Taiwanese residents born on the mainland is a shitty thing to do, but the underlying point of no longer pretending that Taiwan has any realistic chance of controlling the mainland seems sensible.
The bit I didn’t think of - perhaps foolishly - is China being more pissed off about Taiwan declaring them legally separate than about Taiwan claiming ownership over the mainland. In my mind, it would be a good thing from China’s perspective for the Taiwanese government to stop treating Beijing as illegitimate, but in retrospect it’s obvious that a move to disagreeing on what the country is is actually more fundamental than both sides agreeing on the borders but disagreeing on who should be running it.
It’s important to remember the political background. People often think of Taiwan solely as the post-KMT controlled entity - the last remnants of the US supported white army - but that covers up Taiwans history.
Taiwan has had several waves of migration. There’s a native peoples to the island, then several waves of Han migration from southern China due to political repression usually, then finally the retreating KMT army. It’s the KMT who pretty much solely pushed for the “actual legitimate government of China” thing - the earlier immigrants already fled and cut ties with what would be the various ruling dynasties millennia ago.
Ironically, the KMT has been more pro-China, as generally those peoples have a closer tie with the mainland, often having many recent family members. That migration was more recent, after all.
To put another twist in it, the native peoples of Taiwan actually typically vote for the KMT, as the earlier Han migrants have a history of mistreating them, genocide, y’know, the works. They were also horribly mistreated during the Japanese occupation, which is generally seen, if not positively, but “ok” by Hokkien residents, who often see the “white terror” period of KMT rule as even worse than the Japanese occupation. But they were liberators for the native peoples.
All that is to say, it’s complicated. The KMT has been losing power as a political party and that’s why Taiwan has both become more anti-mainland and no longer maintaining the position of “one China”.
Anecdotally, I can kinda confirm. My grandfather was part of the KMT retreating army, my family history is definitely really murky but as far as I know, my parents are both closer to KMT party than I thought. All of my friends and cousins back home though are definitely not.
And not just mainland China! (Do read the top comment though.)
An exercise in realpolitik.. or lack of. It's an oddly fascinating situation there. If only the PRC wasn't so scary.
Great read, thank you for sharing OP!
I wonder what China will do in response? Retaliation towards specific politicians won't matter, ultimately, in geopolitics.
They'd be wise to just let Lai dig himself deeper in tbh. He's doing a better job than China sinking the DPP in part due to stunts like this. https://globaltaiwan.org/2025/10/lai-ching-tes-fragile-presidency/