Taiwan is a country

People walk past a poster for the movie “Fast & Furious 9” at a shopping mall in Beijing, May 26. WWE star and actor John Cena apologized after calling Taiwan a country in promotional interviews for his upcoming film “Fast & Furious 9.” AP-Yonhap

By David A. Tizzard

In the summer of 2009, we boarded a flight for Taiwan. During our time there, we ate, drank and partied with the locals while taking in as much of what the country and people had to offer as we could. The vacation still remains one of my favorite trips and the memories are a source of constant conversation among those who went. I looked over the photos again while writing this article and had to smile.

Fast forward a decade and, having lost a lot of hair and gained a couple more graduate school degrees, I now occasionally get asked by Chinese state media to discuss sociological and cultural issues live on their televised news. They’ve always treated me fairly, never censored any of my opinions (which are generally liberal and focused on trying to improve the lives of the downtrodden and oppressed) and they pay me, I must say, rather handsomely. Certainly compared to my media appearances for other outlets around the globe, the money is often significantly higher when working on Chinese television and this obviously helps when trying to raise a young family here in South Korea. Nevertheless, I generally accept the offers because I’m trying to center discussion and debate around certain issues I find important and the experiences are a good way to arrange my own thoughts on these matters.

Spending a lot of time in academia and the media, there is a heavy focus on trying to offer an informed and educated opinion, speaking honestly about the issues, and retaining a certain degree of tact. I don’t think, however, I would ever feel comfortable censoring my opinions ― either to gain money or out of fear of losing money. There’s a slight difference between those two but the principle remains clear in both cases.

In terms of the history, foreign relations, international law, issues with the WHO, and the United Nations, the actual situation regarding Taiwan and China in the international community is an incredibly complex and difficult one to navigate: Semantics, politics, diplomatic posturing following an age of imperialism, the Second World War, the Chinese Civil War, the Cultural Revolution, and the Cold War all factor in this. My own country of birth, Britain, does not currently officially recognize Taiwan and all relations take place on an unofficial basis. Interestingly enough, as a point of comparison, Britain does officially recognize North Korea and ― outside of normal COVID-life ― maintains a permanent embassy and ambassador in Pyongyang.

However, let’s just stay on the COVID-19 topic for a second. China continues to block Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Organization despite the obvious health issues at stake for the entire globe. This is something that seems rather frustrating because instead of coming together and putting political disputes to one side while we try to create a safer planet for the 8 billion people living here, men and women in suits are still arguing over what color the pictures on a paper map should be despite this not actually changing the reality of the world made up of rivers, mountains, lakes and oceans.

During a pandemic each country has its own geographic, demographic, and cultural issues to contend with, and this can greatly affect performance, but Taiwan’s should not be sniffed at. For a population of 23.6 million, it has recorded only 35 deaths to date. To officially bar a country with an epidemiologist as vice-president from participating and sharing its knowledge during a global health crisis because of political wrangling just seems so depressingly…human. Yes, that is our past and perhaps part of our psyche, but if ever there were a time to try and move past such things, that time is now.

Taiwan, undeterred, has continued in its efforts to share information. When China first reported a “new mystery illness” to the World Health Organization, Taiwan prompted the world to take quicker and more immediate action ― motivated most likely by its own suffering during the 2003 Sars outbreak. Remember, however, Taiwan is not an official member of the World Health Organization. China took its time releasing information while Taiwan closed its borders to travelers and implemented quarantine procedures. Taiwan also sent around 7 million masks to Europe, many of which went to the United Kingdom. This was clearly a country trying to help.

And there, I just used that word again: country.

Now, I don’t really care what John Cena has to say about world politics. I was somewhat surprised to hear him speaking Mandarin but perhaps even more shocked to discover there was a “Fast and Furious 9.” If nothing else, the recent controversy surrounding his apology has been great publicity for the film. But I would just like to state that while my experiences with both Taiwanese people and Chinese people have been nothing but positive, I am more than happy to call Taiwan a country despite what ramifications or consequences there might be. There may be all sorts of legal and diplomatic issues as well as pedants pointing to this or that treaty, but in the real empirical world that I inhabit, Taiwan is a country.

And when the pandemic is over, I’ll hopefully go back and visit it again soon. Perhaps watch South Park on the plane over. Though I shan’t hold my breath on there being a British Embassy when I land.


Dr. David A. Tizzard (datizzard@swu.ac.kr) has a Ph.D. in Korean Studies. He is a social/cultural commentator and musician who has lived in Korea for nearly two decades. The views expressed in the article are the author’s own and do not reflect the editorial direction of The Korea Times.