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Alex Lo

William Lai Ching-te makes me think of Ted, the foul-mouthed and marijuana-addicted teddy bear of the hit comedy of the same name.
By all accounts, Taiwan’s vice-president and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential front runner is a thoughtful and calm person. And he probably doesn’t smoke pot.
But as Lai is this week visiting the United States and Paraguay, the last South American country that still recognises the island, he has loudly proclaimed that Taiwan is an “independent country”. It reminds me of Ted in the film insisting that he is a real person.
Buried deep in Ted 2, the hit sequel full of sophomoric and scatological jokes, is actually a deep philosophical and legal question: Is Ted a person?
He goes to court to make that determination. That’s why Ted 2 is really a serious legal drama disguised as a rude comedy.
Personhood and nationhood raise similarly deep questions.
“Taiwan is already a sovereign, independent country called the Republic of China,” Lai told Bloomberg Businessweek in an interview. “President Tsai [Ing-wen] has used the term Republic of China [Taiwan] to describe our country. I will continue to do so in the future … There are no plans to change the name of our country.”
Latest US military aid to Taiwan is a dangerous provocation
Echoing Tsai throughout her tenure as president, he said: “It is not necessary to declare independence … My responsibility is to maintain the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, while protecting Taiwan and maintaining democracy, peace and prosperity,”
At a more cynical level, that’s all electioneering talk. He wants his cake and eats it too. The DPP is a secessionist party that dares not speak its name. It needs to appeal to its core base with a younger demographic that openly advocates secession. And yet, to be electable, it must cater to the 85-plus per cent of the island’s population who have made it clear they want to maintain “the status quo in the Taiwan Strait”.
Of course, what Lai says is nonsense. Don’t think so? Just ask the White House and the vast majority of the world’s nations – bar a dozen exceptions – whether the island is a nation; the answer will be unequivocal. But, on a more philosophical note, it’s still interesting to ask: how is Ted not a person? How is Taiwan not a nation?
By some philosophical and legal definitions, they may qualify. Thanks to the European Enlightenment tradition, a person is usually understood to be a sovereign being capable of making independent decisions, something Ted seems to be capable of.
Similarly, under at least one international legal theory, an entity is a nation if there is sovereign control over a defined territory, a permanent population, and a functioning government.
Two titans of tech are offering two very different views of Taiwan
For most political theorists and legal scholars, though, these conditions are necessary but not sufficient to qualify as an independent nation. One essential ingredient is missing: recognition by other persons or nations. Ted is not a person unless he is recognised as such by other persons who can enter into various legally recognised relations with him, such as signing commercial contracts or entering a marriage.
Taiwan is not a nation unless it is recognised by other nations and can freely enter into state-to-state relations with them.
I find it interesting to contrast Taiwan with Palestine. They are almost exact opposites. Unlike Taiwan, at least 138 member states of the United Nations recognise the state of Palestine. But while it has a permanent population and a nominal government, its territories are not well-defined – in fact, they are under military occupation and hotly disputed.
We may all have our own moral preferences and political allegiance over Taiwan or Palestine. But I would say neither are independent states, at least not in the usual and commonsensical way most people understand the term.
Lai, the DPP and their secessionist pals like to play with words, but no, Taiwan is not an independent country because it is not recognised as such, even by its most cynical backers.


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My Take

Ted the teddy bear is no more a person than Taiwan is a nation

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Taipei, Taiwan. Photo: EPA-EFE

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Former British Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech at a symposium of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) in Japan on February 17, 2023. Photo: Reuters

Opinion

By proclaiming the island as an ‘independent country’, Vice-President William Lai Ching-te resembles film comedy character who believes he is human


By proclaiming Taiwan as an ‘independent country’, Vice-President William Lai Ching-te resembles film comedy character who believes he is human


Palestinian Territories

Paraguay

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Column

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}By proclaiming the island as an ‘independent country’, Vice-President William Lai Ching-te resembles film comedy character who believes he is human

By proclaiming the island as an ‘independent country’, Vice-President William Lai Ching-te resembles film comedy character who believes he is human