Recolonization, Geopolitics and Resistance: The Formation of Taiwanese Indigenous Peoples in Postwar Era

• Main Authors: Ku, Heng-Chan, 顧恒湛
• Other Authors: 詹素娟
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2019
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/tpe2n6

博士 === 國立政治大學 === 台灣史研究所 === 107 === Abstract This article aims to examine the colonial situation under the KMT regime which Taiwanese indigenous peoples faced through the lens of geostrategic and the changing dynamic of the cold war. Looking back to Taiwan history in postwar era, Taiwan was transformed from a Japanese overseas colony to a province of China in 1945, then from an island frontier to the center and the final power bastion of the exiled Nationalist Chinese state in 1949. Ultimately, Taiwan shifted again to become the forefront of the international Cold War after the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950. In the 1970s, due to the changes of international situation, Taiwan’s status was drifting towards “Taiwanization” of the ROC. These alterations in state of affairs not only affects the country’s future, but also the policy and regulations on the indigenous peoples – ultimately shaping the indigenous peoples we see today. Since the 1950s the KMT regime gradually became the status of ‘settler state’ on Taiwan. Under such rule, the highlands and East coast of Taiwan were embroiled in the structure of Chinese civil war and the cold war, and were appropriated as an internal colony. In the early KMT rule, Taiwan’s highlands were speculated the possibility of enemy invasion and military site of being infiltrated. In prevention, the regions were under supervision, operated as intelligence collection, and positioned as military configuration. On the other hand, the youth service organization(山地青年服務隊) and Nationalist highland regiment(國軍山地團) were established to divert the labor of indigenous peoples into highland military fort, and served as warriors for military counterattack against the Communist mainland. Further emphasis of nationalism among the indigenous population was brought upon through constructivism of “mountain compatriot discourse(山胞論)”, making the shift of identity as Chinese. The Korean war enabled the United States’ involvement in the Taiwan strait and with freezing the action of recovering Mainland China, Taiwan’s highlands and East coast shifted into “the colony of immigration settlement and resource development”. Thus, in the mid-1950s, the KMT government launched new development plans for the regions, furthermore arranged Nationalist veterans amongst the area for settlement and cultivation. When Taiwan’s economy shifted into export industry in the 1960s, indigenous peoples moved to urban cities as the proletariat. Foregoing the 1960-1970s, the colonial policies initiated due to the Cold War gradually broke down the long-standing policy of Taiwan’s space and ethnic separation. Spatial variability and migration and immigration of ethnic groups have caused the indigenous people to be involved in the capitalist monetary economic lifestyle, which has led to a series of social problems related to aborigines such as land loss, usury, debt, poverty, mercenary marriage, child prostitution, and child labor. Therefore, in the early 1970s, the new generation of aboriginal youths who received education of Chinese and Mandarin started to voice their opinions through the media, and self-reflecting the situation of self-ethnic groups. The imagination of “hill dwellers(山地人)”, based on resisting discrimination, started to emerge among young aboriginal activists. However, under the martial law system at the time, the white terror was unfortunately woven into the “Taiwan Highlands Independence Movement campaign”, all of which was suppressed. Following the Kaohsiung Formosa Incident in the 1980s, oppositional movement initiated campaign movements of Taiwanese nationalism. The indigenous peoples were especially valued for their nationhood as the first masters of Taiwan and challenged against the KMT’s Chinese nationalism. In addition, sociology and anthropology began an academic approach of concerning the real life of indigenous peoples. Simultaneously, the Presbyterian churches in Taiwan developed theology specific to aborigines. With impetus, National Taiwan University (NTU) aboriginal students launched a campaign of ‘aboriginal self-awareness’, making the aboriginal issues become a gradual crucial political agenda. In 1984, the Alliance of Taiwan Aborigines (ATA) was established, and the anti-colonial indigenous movement was launched.