Column: A middle-schooler's rebuke of 'one China' propaganda in the classroom
During the first week of school, one of our teachers told us, “Taiwan is technically part of China.”
While several of us immediately raised an objection, our teacher explained his opinion is based on his experience of “not finding any map of China that doesn’t include Taiwan on internet searches,” and that “Taiwan has never officially declared independence.” I would like to raise a second opinion based on historical facts and talk about cyber propaganda related to this issue.
First, Taiwan demonstrates multiculturalism, but has/had never included the Chinese Communist culture. For hundreds of years, before the mid-20th century, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, Han Chinese, the Empire of Japan, Manchuria (which practice Buddhism, Roman Catholicism, shamanism), and Taiwanese aboriginal people all left cultural remains on this island. Never did the Chinese Communist.
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Second, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has/had no historical claim on Taiwan. When the Empire of Japan surrendered and ended World War II in 1945, under the Potsdam Declaration, Taiwan was turned over to the Republic of China (ROC, which is the Taiwan we know now). Ever since, each country has its own defined territory, has developed a sustainable population, and national flag and anthem. Neither party has stepped into the other's territory.
In addition, Taiwan is not just "functioning as a country" as one of my other teachers mentioned. The New Taiwan Dollar is "national currency" that can be traded in the foreign exchange market. As of 2020, a Taiwan passport can enter 78 countries without applying for an additional visa while PRC's passport is 74. After 111 years since the ROC was established in 1911, Taiwan has become a vibrant democracy through the first direct presidential election in 1996 and a political party alternated in 2000. In addition, the first female president was selected in 2016.
I think one of the reasons for cyber propaganda is due to “strategic ambiguity.” Information from cyber propaganda can easily sneak into classrooms without instructors being aware of it. In fact, the map of PRC did not include Taiwan when it proclaimed China. It is the PRC supporters who have been posting maps on the internet that present the PRC as the only “one China.” To stop the intentional misleading of the audience, this year, in March 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden signed a bill to ban the use of inaccurate maps showing Taiwan as part of the PRC by the State Department Foreign Operations.
I would like to think of the word "China" as a similarity to the use of "Europe." Europe is a concept, there are many countries in Europe; China is a concept and People’s Republic of China is one of the countries. Chinese Communism presents communist culture, however, it does not speak for all the many ethnicities, identities, languages, and religions that have lived on the land.
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It would be weird if one of my friends came to me and said that I must share my phone with him because we both come from apes. This is just as awkward when a Taiwanese person is told that their country technically belongs to another one, especially since they have been fighting for democracy for 111 years. We should show respect, knowing that no one can decide others national sovereignty, only their own people.
I hope there is a better way to look at the current Taiwan and China issue instead of innocently supporting the "one China" opinion in our middle school curriculum.
Kenji Kitano is a middle schooler at Monroe County Community School Corp.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington middle schooler opposes 'one China' teaching in class
