The development of Taiwan's national movement

Taiwan has always had a unique position in the Far East, both in terms of geography and the national identity and political institutions that are not only critical for citizens of Taiwan, who make their home on the island, but are also critical to the major powers in East Asia, such as the United States, China, and Japan. Besides the influences of foreign policy on the Taiwanese evolution, the various effects of the globalization that have swept the world in the last several decades have had an even more dramatic effect on Taiwan by comparison, as the island has rushed to embrace free trade and social media both as economic boons and as tools for securing its place as a functioning polity that is nominally part of another but practically a state unto itself. The events of the past twenty years and the global trends that have accompanied them have transformed the thinking of Taiwan’s population as they consider what course they should take going forward. This paper seeks to look at how that change came to be, and how it has already affected the policies and actions of both Taiwan and its neighbors.