Thursday 17 January 2008

What kind of Taiwanese are you? 你是哪種台灣人?

Politicians have taken to task defining what being "Taiwanese" is. There are two major parties on this island - Kuomingtang (pro-unification) and Democratic Progressive Party (pro-independence). Each has their own definition of the Taiwanese. So as far as politicians are concerned, there seem to be two types of Taiwanese - pro-unification Taiwanese and pro-independence Taiwanese.

不同黨派的政治人物對於台灣人似乎都有自己的定義
一個是泛藍(統一派)台灣人,另一個是泛綠(獨立派)台灣人

However, if you ask a pro-unification Taiwanese would they like to hold a PRC passport and would they like the communists to rule Taiwan, they would say "hell no." And if you ask a pro-independence Taiwanese if they'd like to stand up to China and say, "we are a separate country from you," they would not agree, for fear of being fired upon.

不過你如果問一個泛藍台灣人,願不願意拿中華人民共和國的護照,讓共產黨來台灣執政,他們打死也不肯
然後你如果問泛綠台灣人,願不願意站出來跟中國說台灣是個獨立的國家,他們也怕飛彈馬上就飛過來

According to my senior reporter colleague, she says 70% of Taiwanese are middle of the road on the matter. They would rather keep going on as is and not worry about the issue. They don't want to go to either extreme. They don't want to bear any costs. They don't want to cause any antagonism. Apparently, non-confrontational is the common trait here.

一個資深記者同事跟我說,70%台灣人其實是在灰色地帶的
他們寧願就這樣下去,爭一隻眼閉一隻眼
他們不想負擔任何代價,不想到任何極端,不想要造成任何對立
看來台灣人很不喜歡對抗的情形

What is declaring independence anyway? Taiwan operates itself as a separate nation, with its own economy and its own government. Yes, Taiwan loses out on being a part of the WHO and UN, but the difference that is left is very little. It's like a separate couple. The only thing that stands in the way of saying they are not together is a divorce paper. To some, it makes no difference. And to others, it makes all the difference in the world.

宣佈獨立又怎麼樣呢?
台灣基本上是個獨立的實體
無法參加WHO和UN是個事實,但是剩下的差別似乎也不多
如同一個分居的夫妻,唯一和離婚不同的地方就是差那一張離婚證明
對某些人來說,沒什麼差別
但是對另一些人來說,那張紙就是一切

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