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Competing Narratives, Identity Politics, And Cross-Strait Reconciliation, Yinan He

Yinan He

After nearly 60 years of political confrontation, hopes for cross-Taiwan Strait reconciliation have run high since the traditionally pro-unification Nationalist Party (the Kuomingtang, KMT) returned to power in Taiwan in May 2008. However, obstacles to reconciliation remain daunting, due to a fundamental disjuncture between the ideological beliefs of the two sides, in particular because China and Taiwan still lack a shared memory of Taiwanese history that can serve as the foundation for their reconciliation. This article examines a wide variety of sources from Taiwan and China over recent decades. It illustrates their conspicuous memory gap over the history of the …