By Kao Tzu-chiao | 2025-03-24

"[I am] Taiwanese, of course! Absolutely!" Chen Yun responded without hesitation when Focus asked about her identity.

However, if the clock were turned back to around 2010, her answer might have been different.

Around 2010, Chen Yun, who spoke under a pseudonym, went to Shanghai for a job opportunity. At the time, her impression of China was neither particularly positive nor negative.

"There was money to be made, so why not give it a try?" she said. Her sense of identity then was not profound. "I considered myself Taiwanese, but I wouldn’t have objected to being called Chinese either."

However, since Xi Jinping became general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012, Beijing's pressure on Taiwan has gradually increased.

Frequent military threats and rhetoric about unification by force caused her to change her mind.

"Beijing is simply trying to wipe out the Republic of China [ROC; Taiwan]," Chen Yun said.

"I'm not a supporter of Taiwan independence, but I can't stand by and watch the ROC get swallowed up by the other side of the Taiwan Strait. I don't want to be Chinese at all."

Shifting identity

Chen Yun's shift in mindset reflects broader changes in Taiwanese identity in recent years.

Since 1992, Taiwan's National Chengchi University (NCCU) Election Study Center has conducted an annual self-identity survey. Results in February 2024 showed that only 2.4% of respondents identified themselves as "Chinese" -- the lowest rate since 1992. Meanwhile, those identifying as "Taiwanese" reached 63.4%, marking four consecutive years above the 60% mark.

The year 2005 marked a turning point in Taiwanese identity.

In March that year, Beijing introduced the Anti-Secession Law, which explicitly allows China to use force if Taiwan declares independence, if major incidents related to Taiwan's secession occur, or if peaceful unification is deemed impossible.

Last year, Beijing issued "22 guidelines" about punishing Taiwanese independence activists with severe penalties, including the death sentence.

"Beijing is practically aiming missiles at us. How can I still feel that I’m Chinese?" said Yang Chien, who previously visited China frequently for exchange programs and also spoke under a pseudonym.

She once referred to the other side of the Strait as "mainland China," but now she simply calls it "China." "It's because that place is completely different from Taiwan," she explained.

For her part, Chen Yun now takes additional precautions when traveling to Shanghai for business. She carries a brand-new burner phone, leaving her regular phone in Taiwan to avoid complications.

Incidents involving Taiwanese being questioned by Chinese customs are common and concerning, she said.

She pointed to Fu Cha, the editor-in-chief of Gusa Publishing.

Li Yanhe, known by his pen name Fu Cha, moved from Shanghai to Taiwan with his wife in 2009. After visiting relatives in China in March 2023, he reportedly disappeared.

It wasn’t until March 17 this year that China’s Taiwan Affairs Office confirmed he had been charged with "inciting secession of the country" and sentenced.

'High-pressure rule'

Lin Fei, who spent a year as an exchange student at Peking University, acknowledged his affection for Chinese culture but said the systems on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are too different.

"I wouldn’t want to live there under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party."

"This has a lot to do with Xi Jinping's high-pressure rule," said Wang Hung-jen, director of the Institute for National Policy Research.

Beijing's "psychological warfare and military intimidation" approach to Taiwan, coupled with its suppression of the 2019-2020 Hong Kong protests, has fueled deep resentment of China's system among the Taiwanese, he said.

The changes in Hong Kong have served as a loud warning to Taiwanese, reinforcing the concern that freedom can be taken away at any time under Beijing's control.

"Originally, Taiwan's younger generation didn’t carry much identity baggage," Wang added. "But after visiting China, some realized that society there is far different from what they imagined."

Wang concluded that this sense of disillusionment has driven more Taiwanese to identify solely as "Taiwanese" rather than "Chinese."