Look at the labels on most clothing, check where everyday products such as high-tech computers are made, and you'll more than likely find the 'Made in Taiwan' mark. This implies that Taiwan is very active in doing business world-wide. In fact the success in trade has turned Taiwan into a model for many developing countries wishing to revitalise their economies in a very short period of time. This is particularly the case for those countries neighbouring Taiwan in the Pacific region, who have been significantly influenced by Chinese culture - Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines etc.. Even for the origin of Chinese culture, China, Taiwan's experience is probably the best example to apply on its 'motherland.'

However, although Taiwan has become world-famous for its various products, people in the western world are still unlikely to know the exact location of the country on the world map. Internationally, Taiwan is still very unpopular, whether it be transnational trade negotiation or just a friendly Olympic Games. Taiwan gets little respect from other countries and most of the time it is just an invisible trader and has limited friends in the world due to political consideration. This is of course due to the fact that China claims that Taiwan belongs to it.

The conflict between Taiwan and the international community is mirrored in Taiwan itself. In Taiwan, people have one of two opinions. They are either pro-China, in which case they shun the Chinese authorities but are determined to re-unite with the mainland. Others are fighting for Taiwanese independence mainly for practical reasons. They believe that a separate political nation state of Taiwan would do more to further their business interests than would integration with the Chinese mainland. Every Taiwanese person realises that the present instability caused by politics has the capacity to ruin their economic success, long-term development and reputation abroad. However, they do not have the ability nor sense of urgency to resolve their political disputes. The present conflict is the result of a mental complex, a historic problem that can be traced back to about seven hundred years ago...

The story began in Yuan dynasty (AD1264-1294) when Mongolia first established an official bureau in a nearby island (Peng-Hu) outside Taiwan to govern all the neighbouring islands. Taiwan was a part of the Mongolian Empire's territory. Later on as the Yuan Empire was destroyed by the rising Chinese Min dynasty in 1367 and the local Min government took control. However, the local government found it hard to manage Taiwan because Taiwan was so far away from the core of the authority, and secondly the local governor found that inhabitants in this region were hard to tackle. As a result of the above problems, the Min dynasty decided to transfer all dwellers to Mainland China, and then abolished the government in Peng-Hu island. Therefore, Taiwan became an orphan island from that moment onwards.

Later in 1624, Taiwan's geographical importance dragged the attention of the Dutch people because of business with Min dynasty. Netherlands occupied the southern part of Taiwan and built up a castle called 'zeelandia' as it's base in the Far East. Two years after, in order to compete with the Dutch for the interests in East Asia, the Spanish people successfully occupied the northern part of Taiwan and also established a castle, 'San Salvador' to govern people in northern Taiwan. However, for the Dutch government, knowing the fact that a foreign government is in power in the other part of their island was totally intolerable. Hence, battles frequently occurred in surrounding water ways. Eventually, in 1642 the Dutch successfully expelled the Spanish authority and owned the whole island for the first time. The rule of Holland in Taiwan lasted thirty-eight years altogether before they were chased out by a Chinese pirate, Cheng Chen-Kwon. After taking over Taiwan and surrounding islands, Cheng surrendered to the late Min dynasty and became the governor of Taiwan.

In 1683, the Chin dynasty, the final dynasty in Chinese History, came to prominence by destroying the Min dynasty and incorporating Taiwan as part of its territory. Nevertheless, as in the Yuan and Min dynasties, Taiwan was not appreciated by the new government, so when the Chin dynasty lost the war against Japan in 1894, it immediately gave up Taiwan as part of the agreement in the Ma-gwan treaty to plead to Japan to cease fire. Finally Japan accepted the plea and stopped the war and Taiwan became the colony of Japan for the following fifty years until 1945. During these fifty years, the Japanese ruling was not very peaceful. In fact several independent revolutions against the new government were organised by local Taiwanese people. Unfortunately they all ended up with the successful suppression of the colony by Japan. However, although the Japanese were totally foreign, compared to the rule of Chin dynasty they built a lot of infrastructure in Taiwan including transportation, industry, agriculture that is still in use today. Even the prevailing Taiwanese education system is a modified version of the Japanese style. General speaking, the influence of Japan towards Taiwan was very significant. This resulted in a Japan-philic complex, which was fuelled when the corrupt regime of Chiang Kai-Shek took power from the Japanese in the 1950s.

In December 1943, presidents from the Chinese, US government met the prime minister of UK in Cairo and had a three-day discussion about how to beat Japan. After the meeting, the three countries made a statement which later known as the 'Cairo Statement.' In this statement, it said that after Japan's surrender to the Allied Nations, Taiwan should be unconditionally returned to Chinese government immediately. However, if people are more aware of the exact situation happening in Mainland China, they probably might get very confused about this statement because during that time several interior wars happened in Chinese territory. At the time, the KMT (Kuo Min Tang) who ruled over what it called the Republic of China, were fighting against a bunch of revolutionaries who called themselves 'the People Republic of China, PRC.' In 1949, the KMT were losing the battle and they were forced to flee to Taiwan.

In Taiwan, the KMT government re-established the base of the government of the Republic of China in Taipei. The KMT also designed a constitution, insisting that the (PRC) communist government in mainland China was illegitimate. As the consequence of this act was to create two Chinas, the Cairo Statement became undetermined. Governments from both sides of the Taiwan Strait now advocate that Taiwan is a part of their undividable territory and they have the absolute right of autonomy in this land. This embarrassing situation has gone through fifty-one years and still remains now.

This is probably the deepest pain of every Taiwanese, in addition to the fact that after being invaded by the KMT, the KMT used armed force to achieve its powerful suppression by killing the elite in Taiwanese society. This bloody history was hidden on purpose by the tyrannical KMT government for decades out of the fear that they would be dismissed if people knew their cruel behaviours in the past. Furthermore, most descendants of the soldiers in the KMT who came to Taiwan after 1949 were brain-washed about the fact that Taiwan is not their motherland but just a temporary residence, the incompatibility between native Taiwanese people and these 'temporary residents' signifies another big hindrance for Taiwan in pursuing political stability.

In recent years, along with the acceleration of being democratic, various opinions about Taiwan's future rapidly catch the attention of people who have deep concern about their motherland. These popular issues, assisted by the rapid economical growth puzzles the current government greatly when they are making long-term plans. Particularly, more and more Taiwanese people now are able to broaden their viewpoint by travelling around the world and also have more sense about attitudes towards Taiwan from the rest of the world after their higher education. The undetermined status of Taiwan on the international stage seems to be a thrust on these people's back. Furthermore, according to survey, the majority hardly think about the possibility to go back and live under the communist government. The idea of being an independent country gradually sounds. However, the idea is definitely contradicted to the PRC's interest. That's why although Taiwan will become a developed area by 2000, it's still more often excluded in worldly activities. Now all we need is the world-wide support to speed up the pace of turning Taiwan into an independent country despite the likely threat from PRC. Although it's a great challenge for all Taiwanese to claim independence, it's also your Taiwanese friends' dream. So, next time when you come across a Taiwanese friend, don't mistake that s/he is Chinese although the official name of Taiwan is still 'Republic of China.' Taiwan is always the name for people who endorse this place no matter whether they are in or out. Taiwan, where are you going?