Master Hsing Yun is Right: We are All Chinese

Master Hsing Yun is Right: We are All Chinese
China Post editorial
by Bevin Chu
April 23, 2009

Famed Buddhist Master Hsing Yun, founder of the Fo Kuang Shan Monastery, recently came under fire from Taiwan independence zealots and Taiwan independence fellow travelers. They blasted him for comments he made on the mainland, during the World Buddhist Forum.

Daphne Young, a member of "Taiwan Friends of Tibet," an organization dedicated to meddling in the Tibetan region's politics and religion, said, without apparent irony, that the forum was an example of "politics meddling in religion."

Reverend William Luo of the pro independence Presbyterian Church of Taiwan, which has been instilling prejudice against mainland Chinese for the better part of a century, accused Master Hsing Yun of "prejudice against Taiwanese."

One Deep Green columnist who divides fellow citizens of the Republic of China into "Chinese" on one side of the Taiwan Strait and "Taiwanese" on the other, accused Master Hsing Yun of "stoking ethnic divisions," of "ethnic cleansing," and even of "cultural eugenics."

What could Master Hsing Yun possibly have said to send these Taiwan independence zealots into such fits of apoplexy?

Master Hsing Yun said "Both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one family. There are no Taiwanese in Taiwan and Taiwanese are all Chinese. Which Taiwan is not Chinese? They are Chinese just like you are. We are all brothers and sisters."

He said opening the forum on the mainland and closing it on Taiwan was especially meaningful because it would enhance cross-strait exchanges and help the unification of the two sides.

He said "The more [cross-strait] exchanges we have, the more mixed we will be. Then we won't be able to distinguish who's mainland Chinese and who's Taiwanese, and we will naturally become unified."

In case you're still holding your breath waiting to hear the despicable things Master Hsing Yun said that set these Taiwan independence zealots off, that was it.

Clearly the fits of apoplexy thrown by Taiwan independence zealots reveal more about them than they do about the object of their temper tantrums.

One Taiwan independence fellow traveler denounced Master Hsing Yun's comments as "contrary to common sense." He said that anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of political science knows that China is the name of a country. Therefore the term "Chinese" refers to people who have People's Republic of China citizenship. He said the people of Taiwan are akin to Singaporeans. The vast majority may be "Huaren," but they are not "Chinese." He said that to characterize people of Chinese descent on Taiwan as "Chinese" was offensive and inappropriate. He asked whether it was permissible to tell Austrians of German descent that they are "Germans?"

Clearly it was not Master Hsing Yun who lacked a rudimentary understanding of political science.

China is indeed the name of a country. China is short for "Republic of China." Therefore the term "Chinese" refers to people who have Republic of China citizenship.

Citizens of the Republic of China living on Taiwan are most assuredly not comparable to Singaporeans of Chinese descent. Everyone on Taiwan who holds a Republic of China National Identity Card, is Chinese. This includes Hans, Aborigines, and naturalized Caucasian spouses of Republic of China citizens. 

Nor is the Taiwan region of the Republic of China remotely comparable to Austria. If anything, the Taiwan region of the Republic of China is the counterpart of the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschland), aka West Germany (Westdeutschland), prior to German Reunification (Deutsche Wiedervereinigung).

Citizens of the Federal Republic of Germany living in West Germany were Germans. The fact that Germany was politically divided did not make them non-German. They were German when Germany was divided, and they are German now that Germany has been reunified.

Citizens of the Republic of China living on Taiwan are Chinese. The fact that China is currently politically divided does not make them non-Chinese. They are Chinese now when China is divided, and they will be Chinese in the future, when China is eventually reunified.

Just as Federal Republic of Germany citizens residing in West Germany were Germans, so Republic of China citizens residing in the Taiwan region of the Republic of China are Chinese. What else would you call them?

When Master Hsing Yun said that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one family, that all Taiwanese are Chinese, and that we are all brothers and sisters, he was being both semantically precise and morally forthright.

Taiwan independence zealots and Taiwan independence fellow travelers grimly determined to fabricate an artificial and ahistorical "Taiwanese, not Chinese" ethnic consciousness and national identity, are the ones in violation of both common sense, and worse, common decency.