23. Do you think you are 台灣人（Taiwanese）, 中國人（Chinese）, or both?
台灣人（Taiwanese）62%
中國人（Chinese）8%
Both 22%
[Editor’s Note:]
From 2000 to 2008, the DPP government twisted the word 中國（China） to mean “People’s Republic of China”, and the word 中國人（Chinese） to mean “citizens of the People’s Republic of China.” Consequently, in recent surveys on national identity when the question “Are you 中國人（Chinese）?” was asked, some respondents may have thought they were being asked whether they considered themselves as “citizens of the People’s Republic of China,” instead of whether they considered themselves as “part of the 中華民族（Chinese nation）.”
Global Views Magazine conducted a survey on July 21st, 2009, and asked, “Do you think you are part of the 中華民族（Chinese nation）? ”
Yes 80.2%
No 8.8%
No opinion/ Don’t Know 11%
Source: Global Views Magazine Public Opinion Poll Center
This is funny because the editor is claiming that the DPP 'twisted' the meaning of "中國（China） to mean “People’s Republic of China”, and the word 中國人（Chinese） to mean “citizens of the People’s Republic of China.” Clearly then, bringing Chinese Language nomenclature in line with how the rest of the world name China is 'twisting' reality. But this is exactly why 'culture and education' is such an important unificationist 'front-line' for the KMT. It is the coding within the Chinese language and the use of Chinese words to delineate identities, both political and cultural' that is key to the survival of the R.OC. within the minds and hearts of the Taiwanese. That could be why the KMT has made every effort to reinvigorate public attachment to the R.O.C flag and to subtly replace the word Taiwan with that of R.O.C. in Government text. So the editors first complain that the DPP have made any survey which uses 中國 or 中國人 inaccurate and misleading then point to another survey that uses different (more convenient) wording.
“Do you think you are part of the 中華民族（Chinese nation）? ”
The first thing to point out is that if we are to ask such a question, then we should also ask its equivalent question:
“Do you think you are part of the 台灣民族（Taiwanese nation）? ”Finally, how valid is it to ask the question whether someone is 'part of 中華民族（Chinese nation）' ? There is no country in the world whose name is 中華民族. There is 中華民國 (Republic of China) and 中華人民共和國 (Peoples Republic of China). There is a very subtle but very important distinction between the characters 民族 and 民國. The first (Chinese Nation) is a diasporic term denoting all those of Chinese lineage or heritage. This includes all those who are 'Chinese' by descent but are actually native citizens of another country. All ABCs and CBCs including Chinese in Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan are included as members of the 'Chinese Nation' but they are not citizens of 中華民國 (Republic of China) whose jurisdiction and geographical control is limited to Taiwan, Penghu, Kimen and Matsu. An equivalent question for people in America would be to ask if they felt part of a Euro-American history, language and culture. I imagine a majority would likely still say yes.
But why is this word play important to the KMT? The answer lies in a strategy of not boxing oneself into a rigid legally defined political/cultural identity of a country that would eliminate the opportunity for the R.O.C to be reinvigorated again outside of Taiwan. It is a way to show that despite many polls seeing rises in Taiwan identification over the last 12 years, the public still think of themselves as 'Chinese' and therefore would surely, by association, wish for unification of 中華民國 based on the 'blood is thicker than water' argument of 中華民族. Any identity survey in Taiwan therefore has to traverse the linguistic hurdle of giving interviewees a full range of identity choices as I thought my Social development class achieved fairly well last semester in our survey of 180 people:
Finally, perhaps data from the NCCU Election Studies Center on identification might provide a more academically balanced picture:
As you can see, there's nothing like 80.2% of Chinese Nation identifiers from the Global Views Poll (which the KMT favours) in the NCCU statistics. The best is just over half that figure at 50.9% in 1996. In my opinion, polls that ask questions using concepts of nation that are more culturally or situationally formulated should take care to provide a full range of options that matches all the formulations of nation likely present in the country being surveyed. In America that means asking if someone is part of the Apache Nation or First People's Nation as well as asking if they are a citizen of the U.S.A. A person can also hold a number of seemingly contradictory or overlapping identities, some of which have legal recognition and others that do not. Nation is a complex notion and not to be confused with 'ethincities' or 'peoples' or 'state'.I can only conclude that polls in Taiwan must be very careful about how they ask questions of identity lest they fall into a trap of their nomenclature influencing the results. Here's a good starter:
What do you consider yourself to be? (can tick more than one)
Aboriginal
Aboriginal Taiwanese
Taiwanese (台灣人)
Taiwanese (台灣民族人)
Chinese (中華民國人)
Chinese (中華民族人)
Chinese (中國人)
Chinese (中華人民共和國人)
Hakka
Hakka Taiwanese
New Taiwanese (permanent foreign residents married to Taiwanese or naturalised)
Other
