O legado colonial japonês e suas atuais implicações políticas no estreito de Taiwan

Abstract

Although the majority of Taiwan’s population is descended from Chinese settlers who immigrated to the island between the 17th and 19th centuries, the Taiwanese independence movements refuse to accept unification with China, that since its founding in 1949 has claimed Taiwan as its own territory, and insist on designating Taiwan as a separate independent political entity from China. However, the existence of these independence movements is relatively new and begun in the mid-twentieth century, after the end of the fiftieth year of Japanese colonization in 1945. This article aims to analyse how the Japanese colonial and post-colonial experience played an important role in changing the perception of national identity in Taiwan, and currently is the main source of tension in relations with China. The article concludes that the fifty years of Japanese colonization and the violent Chinese repression in the post-war period were essential for the formation of a Taiwanese national identity distinct from the Chinese one and for the emergence of the Taiwanese independence movements.