Lai Ching-te argues the reverse may be true because the Republic of China – the mantle that nationalists carried with them to Taiwan – predates the communist People’s Republic
It is “impossible” for the People’s Republic of China to become Taiwan’s motherland because Taiwan has older political roots, the island’s president has said.
Lai Ching-te, who took office in May, is condemned by Beijing as a separatist. He rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying the island is a country called the Republic of China that traces its origins back to the 1911 revolution overthrowing the last imperial dynasty.
The Chinese nationalist government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong’s communists. Mao set up the People’s Republic of China, which continues to claim self-governed Taiwan as its territory.
I kind of get what he’s saying, but I’d also think these people would take issue: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwanese_indigenous_peoples
I haven’t closely followed Taiwanese politics but I’m pretty sure the DPP (his party) is largely supported by the indigenous people
It’s more the “motherland” claim. Most indigenous Americans support the U.S. government. They’ll even sometimes proudly fight for America in the U.S. military. That doesn’t mean they’d appreciate it if Trump or Biden said that the U.S. was the motherland of white people.
The thing is, he’s directly saying that China isn’t their motherland because their government was born first. He’s saying that although their government used to control China, its home is Taiwan now. The DPP is against the idea of reclaiming the mainland or claiming too much heritage or symbolism from the mainland as they are the pro-independence party in Taiwan
Like I said, I kind of get what he’s saying. I just don’t know that it was put well. Maybe it works better in Chinese and it’s just a translation thing.
It’s sometimes hard to translate things like this into English well so that would make sense
Not entirely sure what you’re getting at. Are you suggesting that Taiwanese Indigenous people might have a problem that the Republic of China (Taiwan) is older than the PRC?
Basically these indigenous folks were on Taiwan long before a Chinese person set foot on the islands, let alone declared a republic. Edit: It belonged to them first, before it belonged to the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_China_(1912%E2%80%931949
Yeah it’s disgraceful that people from the mainland forced out of their homes by war and prejudice have in turn set up a colonial state that oppresses, marginalised and usurped the national status of the people Indigenous to the area. If only they weren’t treated as American allies just so they act as a counterbalance to the regional power.