China Overreach: Taiwan's Democracy in Peril
Taiwan is a small subtropical island off the southern coast of mainland China. It has mountainous and coastal areas and a population of 23 million. The capital of the country is Taipei: a thriving metropolis with a population of about 2.6 million people. While Taiwan has been inhabited by people for thousands of years, it was not settled by Han Chinese people until the 1600s. It has become progressively more important on the world stage since that time. Its worldwide importance is largely due to the question of to what extent it should be governed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC). This issue has existed since 1949 and is growing more contentious by the day. The issue gained global attention in August when U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan (Haenle). In reaction to the visit, the PRC started large-scale military exercises in the Taiwan Strait, including sending ballistic missiles over Taiwan (Haenle). The magnitude of these military exercises raised concerns about the possibility of a 4th Taiwan Strait Crisis (Blanchette et. al.). Additionally, the recent August Official White Paper published by the PRC had a distinctly more aggressive attitude towards Taiwan than previous white papers (Xinhua). The PRC’s recent actions in the Taiwan Strait and this white paper indicate the growing tension between the PRC and Taiwan. This tension implicates the whole world economically and politically because if the conflict escalates it will harm the global economy and countries will be drawn into the conflict due to previous agreements with either side (Wu). The purpose of this essay is to cover the recent history of Taiwan and China, detail the political situation in Taiwan, and explain the current state of Chinese-Taiwan relations to demonstrate why the world must not let China interfere with Taiwan’s autonomy.
Meet the Student: Cora Eaton
Cora Eaton is a Political Science major with minors in the Hesburgh Program of Public Service and Chinese. She is also a fellow in the Notre Dame International Security Certificate Program. She is from Falls Church, Virginia, and will be graduating in 2024. She took Approaching Asia because she has always been interested in Asian culture and the continent’s relationship with the US and other continents. She was originally mostly interested in China, but wanted to learn more about wider Asia and Dr. J’s class seemed to be the perfect way to do that. She chose the topic of China and Taiwan for her paper because she has been to both countries, and was always intrigued by their relationship. The situation has extensive implications for the rest of the world, and becomes more salient every day as both China and Taiwan grow in international prominence.