“Mutual Historical Understanding”: The Basis for Taiwan-Mainland Relations in the Twenty-First Century

This chapter explains the proposal that mutual historical understanding can provide a common basis for both parties to meet and hold meaningful deliberatains. It examines the necessity of mutual historical understanding of both parties in a relationship in order to achieve an amicable, interdependent and mutually thriving relationship. The chapter outlines the relevant histories of Taiwan and Mainland China, and then sketches out some risks of neglecting this mutual historical understanding. Resolving the Taiwan-Mainland relationship is perhaps the most pressing issue in East Asia in the twenty-first century. Two quick-fix proposals are in vogue in Taiwan: quick unification of Taiwan with the Mainland and quick independence of Taiwan from the Mainland. These proposals produce more heat and frustration than anything because they are impatient, naive and lack depth of mutual historical understanding. The mind of the orphan neatly synthesizes the centripetal-centrifugal tension in Taiwan's historical consciousness.