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What Divides Us - A Cultural Explanation of the China-Taiwan Problem
And yet, over the past 20 years as a writer on matters Taiwanese and Chinese I have come to realize however much their government in China censors my views[something missing here?] different are their values and identities and wonder how these differences might be blunted. The Chinese who write me about my letters often are very nationalistic, saying that they all are willing to use force to unify Taiwan with China. Some intellectuals there think that China's own dictatorship reins China in and allows Taiwan, despite all the words, to be democratic. Yet, there are growing cracks in the Chinese system of surveillance, as evident from the greater number of demonstrations and demonstrators by the year. The situation with human rights there is different from my youth. It is not as simple and uniform as it was then.

For Taiwanese the problem of a sense of isolation is acute. The 15th largest economy and 48th largest population out of 256 countries in the world, it is barred from international treaties, is deprived of basic medical information by the WHO on SARS and other problems. To 35 years of mistreatment and deprival of dignity by the international community on these political grounds one must add the prolonged, 37 years of martial law after World War II. While Taipei residents, despite all their education, can be surprisingly ignorant of the rest of the world, the real problem is the handicaps that this isolation has imposed on the development of democracy in Taiwan. It has no international responsibility and little political cooperation with other nations, so there is little interest in international problems. As this sense of isolation deepens, the sense of animosity of its citizens towards China grows, leaving little room for rational discussion of essential issues. Not surprisingly, we have had more tension and threats of conflict. The Taiwanese have for a long time been searching for a way to find modernity and democracy and link them with something of their own and Chinese traditions. If a democratic China is today essential for world order, than the same global village needs to bring an end to Taiwan's sense of isolation before it brings disaster to Taiwan's politics, economy, and culture. The young democracy of Taiwan must be cared for by the world community. Global citizenship should not be denied to Taiwan. As part of this process, it will be necessary for Taiwan to negotiate with China and for changes to take place in China. The answers will not come quickly, but China has to be aware that democracy anywhere must have elections, checks-and-balances, and an independent judiciary for its governance. The future of democracy is hard to predict, yet one cannot deny the big changes that in the past 20 years have occurred in China, especially between different sets of values within China.

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