"Amy in Taiwan--the Story of a Returned Child Emigrant" in our May issue aroused a response from many readers.
The article was about Amy Chen, who works as a designer at an American-owned faucet factory in Hsinchu's Industrial Zone. She emigrated to Canada with her parents as a child, and now as an adult has returned to develop her career in Taiwan. In her work and in her daily life she is gradually adapting to the environment here.
A local reader questioned whether, from a "historical", perspective, the "dirt, mess and pollution", of today's Taiwan might not have their roots in the "emigrant" mentality of an "emigrant" society, in which people regard this island as a "way station" where money can be earned, and which they leave behind after creating social disorder and chaos. She was curious whether Amy will put down roots here, or whether, once the North American economy improves, she will "return home" to Canada.
Amy's reply was that the blame for Taiwan's many problems cannot be laid at the door of emigrants and the overseas Chinese; they are the responsibility of every individual. Because of the bias and discriminatory attitudes of people in the ROC against Chinese who "hold a foreign passport," she did not wish to settle here permanently. She warned: "Don't ever think that we overseas Chinese never do anything for Taiwan. We have; it's just that for political reasons you people in Taiwan don't know." Amy also emphasized that she didn't come back "for the money."
When these two letters appeared they aroused an even more lively debate. In particular, almost all the letters from readers overseas expressed support for Amy.
A reader in Canada wrote that in today's world, it is far more important to be a "good person" who cares about the world and humanity than it is to be a citizen of a particular country.
Another reader whose husband is Japanese but who has retained her ROC citizenship, wished to encourage Amy, saying: "I'm sure that all Chinese are patriotic, wherever they may live and whatever passport they may hold... Although I live in Japan and work for a Japanese company, I haven't forgotten that if I have the opportunity, I want to contribute to my country in any way I can, in the hope of making Taiwan an even better place in the future." She also had these words for Amy: "I hope you will work even harder for your own future and that wherever you plan to settle, you will always support Taiwan!"
An overseas Chinese in Korea writes: "I was born and raised here in Korea, but in my almost 40 years there has never been a single day when I have thought that I was not Chinese. Every day I pin on my daughter's collar a bright little ROC flag with its 'white sun, blue sky and red earth." He continues: "When any of us goes back to Taiwan, it's not for 'money,' but only because we want to return home. ... No overseas Chinese looks on Free China merely as a "way station" or a place of "productive benefit," to be deserted once one has earned one' s money, and none of us has created social disorder and chaos in Taiwan and then left!"
All these opinions reveal a difference of attitude between overseas Chinese and people in the ROC. Their different starting points clearly produce different perspectives.
Many years ago the Father of the Republic, Sun Yat-sen, described the overseas Chinese as "the mothers of the revolution." His words stand in breathtaking contrast with the egg-throwing incident of two years ago.
In 1991, some overseas Chinese who had returned for the National Day celebrations and were taking part in a tour of southern Taiwan actually had eggs thrown at them by local people in the Kaohsiung/Pingtung area. And the fierce competition of the university entrance examinations has prompted certain legislators to ask the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission: "With so few university places for our own people, why should we give priority to overseas Chinese to return to study here?" and "Every year we spend large sums of our people's hard-earned money looking after foreign nationals who are simply of Chinese descent, but have never done anything for this country. How much allegiance do those people have to this country?" Some have even proposed scrapping the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission altogether.
The bonds between the overseas Chinese and the Republic of China run long and deep, and our relationship and standpoints cannot be reduced to a simplistic view that we are "marching to different tunes" or should "go our own separate ways." Even less so since the "overseas Chinese" include not only the long-established overseas Chinese communities, but also new emigrants, and people of Taiwanese origin. The overseas Chinese have always had a close two-way relationship with their motherland. As Legislator Cheng Chien-jen observes, "the fates of the overseas Chinese and the Republic of China have been closely linked since the Revolution, through the founding of the Republic, the Northern Expedition, the War of Resistance against Japan and the 'Period of Mobilization for Suppressing the Communist Rebellion,' right up to the present day."
But changing times and the rapid evolution in the domestic and international environment have brought a qualitative and quantitative change in the relationship between Chinese people and their motherland. Amy's story and the intense response which it elicited have prompted this month's Cover Story, "Redefining the Position of the Overseas Chinese," in which we look into why the overseas Chinese have gone from being the "mothers of the revolution," to being the objects of some people's suspicion. Our opinion poll on ROC residents' view of the overseas Chinese casts some light on what ordinary people think of and know about the overseas Chinese. We also present an interview with John Chang, who just six months ago was appointed chairman of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission, to see how this son-in-law of a Cantonese family is working to make the Commission a bridge linking the overseas Chinese with the government and people of the ROC.
Frankly speaking, in our ”global village” with its ever closer links and ever greater interdependence, how to respect the independence of the individual, how to build a “community of destiny" with a high degree of consensus, and how to dispel misunderstanding and resentment between people, are questions for every one of us to urgently reflect on and put into practice in our own lives. The "complex" which permeates our relationship with the overseas Chinese is just one aspect of this issue.
