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At a Cantonese restaurant in Taipei, Harry Chen and four old friends are shouting at each other over a Lazy Susan, stopping occasionally to toast each other with Canadian whisky or translate their argument into English.
All are retired men in their 70s – the sons of Chinese nationalist soldiers – and were born or grew up in Taiwan during its brutal decades of martial law.
They are the demographic considered most likely to support the “unification” of Taiwan with China. And they do – mostly. But the issue is complicated: Taiwan functions domestically as an entirely independent country, with its own democratically elected government, currency, military and vibrant civil society.
However, the Chinese Communist party (CCP) believes it is a province of China that must be “reunified” with the mainland – peacefully by preference, but by force if necessary.
Despite threats and intimidation by Beijing and its military, Taiwan’s resistance to unification only grows stronger. More and more people are also identifying themselves as exclusively Taiwanese, not exclusively Chinese or both. More are showing support for independence.
But this month a poll in Taiwan found almost 12% of respondents still support unification. Other surveys have shown that figure to be about 5%-10%. The number has declined over the years but a stubborn segment saying yes to “one China” suggests a sizeable group of people in Taiwan are not being pushed towards independence like so many of their compatriots. Some analysts also say this group could be enough to vote hardline pro-China candidates – some of whom also have connections to organised crime – into local government.
Given the military drills and the threats to Taiwan, and the deteriorating freedoms and rights inside China, it is a fair question to ask why anyone in Taiwan would want to go back to life under authoritarian rule, decades after they left it behind.
“People’s understanding of unification has changed quite a lot over the decades,” said Jeremy Huai-Che Huang, a Taipei-based analyst.
