Taiwan

Taiwan off the coast of China was colonised by Chinese people and is now independently governed.

The island of Taiwan has had a very chequered history. Its indigenous people are not related to the Chinese but during the 15th and 16th century large numbers of settlers arrived from the Chinese province of Fujian. The language known as Taiwanese is still closely related to Fujianese (Hokkien). A period of Dutch (and Spanish) colonial rule was followed by a Ming refugee government before becoming loosely under Qing control during which a form of Chinese settler colonialism continued.

By the end of the 19th century British tea merchants were heavily interested in the island and attempted to support the Qing government as Japanese imperialists began to see Taiwan as a colony. The Japanese annexed Taiwan after their defeat of the Qing and the Treaty of Shimonoseki. This led to a 50 year period of Japanese colonial rule which was nevertheless less harsh than the later Japanese invasion of China. Chinese people in Taiwan were treated as Japanese subjects and many grew wealthy under Japanese rule.

This period ended with Japan’s defeat in 1945 when the Nationalist government of China took over the island before this single China province then became a refuge for the Republic of China government once the Chinese Communist Party established its new government in 1949. Since then the pretenders to government in China itself have become de facto Taiwanese nationalists as democratic government evolved. A declaration of independence only being prevented by threats from the Beijing government which continues to uphold the claim that Taiwan is a rogue province.

Chinese people from Taiwan first arrived in Australia as prisoners of war during the Second World War. They were also early immigrants in the 1980s alongside those from China with which they were often confused. Both groups were largely Mandarin speaking and considered themselves Chinese. However, as hostilities between the two grew so has the sense of Tawaineseness and of being Taiwanese Australian rather than Chinese Australian.