Hi, I’m Kamalei!
I am from Portland, OR, and this is my first year at the UO! I have been learning Mandarin for almost 15 years and am majoring in both Chinese and Journalism! In my free time I love to draw, read (“The Mirror Visitor” is my favorite series at the moment, 10/10 would recommend), work on a short story, or watch Korean dramas! Although I have a bit of commitment issues with tv shows, I do prefer shows over movies so if you need a show to watch, feel free to ask!
Taiwan and the Issue with Cosmopolitanism
When speaking on the topic of cosmopolitanism, an issue that can not be disregarded is the obligatory aspect of it. At first glance the idea that the world is inhabited by individuals with fundamentally equal rights and obligations towards each other is charming. “We’re all in this together”, as the ensemble cast of High School Musical 3 would say. Or rather, sing. Let’s use climate change as an example. When considering the gravity and importance of this issue, a collective effort to work towards solving it is a comfort. “You’re not alone in this”, “We’re all on the same team”, “We make each other strong” “Together, we’re there for each other every time”, “Together together come on let’s do this right”, is an undertone when working on these global issues. These are positive echoes as a result of cosmopolitanism; there is a moral obligation to solve an issue that impacts each and every person on this earth. However this obligation we owe to each other is questionable when applied on a smaller scale. This is where Taiwan takes the stage.
An island with a total area of 13,892 square miles, Taiwan is the home of over 23.6 million people and has been circulating throughout the news as China pushes for reunification and tensions rise between the two countries. Similar to Hong Kong, China wants to incorporate Taiwan into the mainland under their “one country, two systems” formula where they would be guaranteed the right to preserve their economic and political systems, as well as be granted a “high degree of autonomy”. In light of Beijing’s recent crackdowns on Hong Kong’s freedoms and the national security law in 2020 that gave Beijing power to punish and silence dissenters, this formula is very unpopular in Taiwan. A survey also found that 63% of people in Taiwan had a negative view of the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), 66% rated the PRC’s impact on Taiwan as either somewhat or very negative, and when asked to rate the PRC government’s friendliness, 24% chose most unfriendly and 72% rated the government as somewhat friendly. When considering this matter from the perspective of cosmopolitanism, and the potentially negative impact on Taiwan, should they unify with China given the precedent Hong Kong has set, “what is Taiwan obligated to do for China?” must be raised. Yes, on a larger scale and working in an effort to solve a global issue, cosmopolitanism can be seen as positive, as the right ideology to apply. However on a much smaller scale, and in regard to a more subjective issue considering China obviously supports reunification while Taiwan does not, and with the potential negative impact being known, cosmopolitanism is not the fair ideology to apply. On smaller scales, it is a rather audacious ideology to take, and the potential that more harm than good could be coming out of this obligation must be considered.
Sources
https://www.countryreports.org/country/Taiwan.htm
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/hong-kong-freedoms-democracy-protests-china-crackdown
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/china-taiwan-relations-tension-us-policy-biden
https://genius.com/High-school-musical-cast-were-all-in-this-together-graduation-mix-lyrics
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2022/02/07/why-is-unification-so-unpopular-in-taiwan-its-the-prc-political-system-not-just-culture/