From the People “on Taiwan” to “of Taiwan” by HoonTing 20210623

From the People “on Taiwan” to “of Taiwan”    by HoonTing  20210623

Our readers found that it uses “the people of Taiwan” rather than “the people on Taiwan” after reading the draft of “the Canada-Taiwan Relations Framework Act, or CTRFA.”   They are trying to figure out the reason.

In the article I presented for “the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Formosan Self-salvation,” hosted by the Taiwan Association of University Professors in 2014, I have explained why.

I compared, in the article, the stance of the Taiwan self-determination leaders, mainly Liao Wen-Kwei and Liao Wen-Yi and others, in the early stage of the proxy occupation of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek (CKS) with that of Dr. Peng Ming-Min’s Declaration of Formosan Self-salvation in 1964.  I found that the viewpoints have changed to reflect the change of Taiwan society.

Seeing the brutal rules and corruptions of CKS's hostile occupation, the Taiwanese elites, regarded the people from China, including the military, civil, and the ordinary people, as enemies naturally.  The answer to them was simple: Chinese were never Taiwanese. To those leaders, they have to expel the Chinese under the instructions of the United Nations.  The tactic then was mild: by petition to the UN.  However, two decades later, Dr. Peng drafted a Declaration with his colleagues, noting that the two groups must be coexisting under the principle of democracy, among others.  Dr. Peng’s view reflected the social change of Taiwan, in which people from different groups were becoming classmates and friends.  They established families and have children.  Although many of them thought about immigration to the U.S.; however, most of them had to work and live here in Taiwan.

Dr. Peng saw the new reality in 1964, even though many of his colleagues whose mentality remained in days in 1947, a massacre by the proxy occupation.  I am not saying that justice should not be looking over; on the contrary, we have to uncover the data of all who have done the ruthless behaviors in the name of anti-communism to facilitate the authoritarian rules of Gimo.  But it is quite another thing to merge the two groups in Taiwan.

However, the international community reflects the new reality slower than it is.  That is why the U.S. acknowledges the paragraph of “all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait,” in the Shanghai Communiqué of 1972.  No matter what the cause referred to, the U.S., seeing the fact that the cadres of the Taiwan administration were almost Chinese mainlanders and the fact that there was no significant social power, which was able to represent Taiwanese people then, made the paragraph naturally. 

As the situation continues, and the words iterated in 1979.

The fact of the “the People on Taiwan” rather than “the People of Taiwan” in the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), an act to summarize and to replace the previous legal establishments between the U.S. and Taiwan after the end of the Pacific War, does not pop out from nothing.  The term “People on Taiwan” refers to all the people who possess the household registrations of Taiwan; while the term “People of Taiwan” indicates the Taiwanese people who lived under the Japanese Empire and their descendants.  The TRA stipulates so for the purpose to include most of the people who live in Taiwan who pay tax, serve military duty, etc.

The concept looks logical when TRA passed in 1979.  However, amid the democratization of Taiwan, the words “on Taiwan” evolve to that of “of, Taiwan.”  The major countries acknowledge the new reality that Taiwan has an emerging integrated group socially or even ethnically.

It is so natural for Canada to introduce the term “the People of Taiwan” instead of "the People on Taiwan."

 

從「台灣住民」到「台灣人民」

我們的讀者在閱讀了〈加拿大-台灣關係框架法案〉，或 CTRFA的草案後發現，它使用了「台灣人民」而不是「台灣住民」。他們正試圖找出原因。

我在2014年由台灣教授協會主辦的「台灣自救宣言50週年”」發表的文章中，解釋了原因。

我在文章中比較了台灣自決領導人，主要是廖文逵、廖文毅等人在蔣介石代理佔領初期的立場與1964年彭明敏博士的台灣自救宣言。我發現：觀點已經改變，以反映台灣社會的變化。

看到中正敵對占領的殘酷統治和腐敗，台灣精英們自然而然地將來自中國的人民，包括軍隊、文職人員和普通民眾視為敵人。他們的答案很簡單：中國人從來都不是台灣人。對那些領導人來說，他們必須在聯合國的指示下驅逐中國人。當時的策略是溫和的：向聯合國請願。然而，二十年後，彭博士與他的同事們起草了一份宣言，指出這兩個群體必須在民主等原則下共存。彭博士的觀點反映了台灣的社會變遷，不同群體的人成為同學和朋友。他們建立了家庭並有了孩子。儘管他們中的許多人都考慮過移民美國；然而，他們中的大多數人不得不在台灣工作和生活。

彭博士在 1964 年看到了新的現實，儘管他的許多同事的心態仍然停留在 1947 年的代理佔領大屠殺。我並不是說正義不應該被審視；相反，我們必須揭露所有以反共的名義進行無情行為以促進Gimo的專制規則的數據。但在台灣合併這兩個集團是另一回事。

然而，國際社會反映新現實的速度比現在慢。這就是為什麼美國承認1972年〈上海公報〉中「台灣海峽兩岸所有中國人」的段落。不管是什麼原因，美國看到台灣政府的幹部幾乎是中國大陸人，加上當時沒有能夠代表台灣人的顯著社會力量，這一段自然而然。

隨著形勢的發展，1979年又回來了。

〈台灣關係〉（TRA）中的「台灣住民」而不是「台灣人民」的事實，這是對太平洋戰爭結束後美台之間先前法律制度的總結和取代，不是憑空出現的。「台灣住民」是指所有擁有台灣戶口的人；而「台灣人民」一詞，則是指生活在日本帝國統治下的台灣人民及其後代。TRA 如此規定的目的是為了包括大多數居住在台灣的納稅、服兵役等人。

1979年TRA通過時，這個概念看起來合乎邏輯。然而，在台灣民主化過程中，「台灣住民」一詞演變為「台灣人民」。主要國家承認台灣有一個新興的社會，甚至種族融合群體的新現實。

加拿大引入「台灣人民」而不是「台灣住民」這個詞，毋寧是很自然的。（中文由Google翻譯，Taimocracy修正）