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| Fu Ye gives the speech which sparked so much controversy after she wins Best Director at the 55th annual Golden Horse Awards |
During the 55th annual Golden Horse awards,
the Chinese equivalent to the Oscars, coverage was reportedly cut off when the
winner of Best Director, Fu Ye, called for Taiwanese independence and said that her biggest hope
was that “our country” could be regarded as an “independent entity.”
Immediately after her comments, Fu Ye was attacked on
Weibo and on Facebook with thousands of derogatory posts.
Her award winning documentary; ‘Our Youth in Taiwan’,
tells the story of the Sunflower Movement Protests of 2014 which began with the
occupation of the Yuan Legislative chamber by protestors. A movement driven by
students and civic groups protesting a free trade agreement, the Cross Strait
Service Trade Agreement (CSSTA), with China. It would have opened up the
Taiwanese Service Industry to Chinese investment and was passed without the
knowledge of congress. The protestors believed the deal would weaken Taiwan’s
economy and make it more vulnerable to political pressure from Beijing.
Given China’s recent strategy of controlling smaller
countries by making them dependent on China for their economy, the protestors
had a right to be concerned, in recent years has begun ‘colonising’ smaller
countries, such as Djibouti and Fiji, by lending them massive amounts of money
which they can never pay back.
The strained mood was not helped when an actor from
the mainland, Tu Men, announced he was proud to be presenting an award in
“China, Taiwan”, a phrase which the Chinese government uses to refer to Taiwan
which the Taiwanese government finds offensive. The President of Taiwan, Tsai
Ing-wen, later wrote on Facebook; “We have never accepted the term ‘China,
Taiwan’ and will not accept this statement, Taiwan is Taiwan.”
This is a clear example of international conflict,
China and Taiwan have a longstanding conflict over which country is the only
and legitimate China, with Taiwan calling itself The Republic of China and
China calling itself The People’s Republic of China. The issue has its roots in
the Chinese Civil War which forced the ruling government to flee to Taiwan
whilst the Communist party took over as government of the mainland. Originally,
the US, NATO and most western countries recognised the exiled Taiwanese
government as legitimate while the Soviet bloc recognised the new Communist
government.
However since 1979, the US has recognised the mainland
China as legitimate because they wanted influence against the USSR. In 1992, China
and Taiwan came to a consensus, acknowledging that there was only one China and
that each believed themselves to be it. This allowed negotiations about other
things to take place more easily without getting bogged down by the elephant in
the room. Basically they agreed to disagree.
In 2005, China passed a law preventing Taiwan from
seceding from mainland China and authorising non-peaceful means to unify Taiwan
back into China. This could lead to violence between the two countries,
something which Taiwan cannot afford to do due to China’s huge military
capacity.
China and Taiwan have tried, since the early 2000s to
increase trade, communication and healthcare and in 2014, leaders met in the
first direct government contact since 1949. However, as shown in the polarising reactions
to Fu Ye’s speech, it is still a hot button topic in China and the two
countries seem far from reconciliation due to the complicated and paradoxical
nature of their relationship.
Many Taiwanese want to maintain the status quo of
mutually denying one another’s legitimacy. But
since Tsai Ing-wen, of the Democratic Progressive Party was elected president
and Taiwan has become increasingly pro-independent and democratic, China has
been steadily ramping up it’s efforts to isolate Taiwan from the global
community. Since Tsai Ing-wen’s win in 2016, China persuaded four countries;
Panama, Sao Tome and Principe, Burkina Faso and the Dominican Republic to sever
long term diplomatic relationships with Taiwan and has persuaded a number of
airlines, including Quantas, to call Taiwan a ‘territory’ instead of a
‘nation’. China’s renewed aggression towards Taiwan means that the status quo
may be impossible to maintain and has created a more and more volatile
atmosphere between the two countries.
China’s dominant and increasing power in the global political system means that Taiwan may not have a choice in what political direction their country takes, China’s immense power means they can influence other country’s elections and their relationships with other countries. It seems that China won’t stop bullying Taiwan until Taiwan bends to its will, the reaction to Fu Ye’s speech is simply a symptom of a wider problem in the Taiwan-China relationship, one which doesn’t look like it will come to a satisfactory conclusion for both sides.
Original Article
Live coverage of ‘Chinese Oscars’ gets cut off after winning director calls for Taiwan Independence.
Further Reading
The Sunflower Revolt: Protests in Taiwan VICE Documentary
China is bullying Taiwan
Why china and Taiwan hate each other
Golden Horse Awards ceremony ignites feiry discussion about Taiwan independence
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