【Research Note】Reconsidering the Development of Citizenship of the Republic of China (Taiwan) Under the Shadow of the Citizenship-Nationality Complex
Author: Hui-yi Katherine Tseng
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This research examines the evolution of citizenship in the Republic of China (Taiwan) from the beginning of 1949 to the post-democratization period, under the shadow of the still unresolved divided-nation issue across the Taiwan Strait. Embedded in communitarian ideals, the evolution of citizenship has been shaped by the gradually-consolidated new-era communitarian-ness, which is a concept comprised of: an inclusive membership having both territorial-national and post-national elements, active and self-consciously exercises of citizen rights and civic participation in community affairs, a newly-configured identity that blends indigenous ethnocultural features with universal values, while reformulated by the effect of a definite territorial domain under the ROC’s effective control. This process of the development of citizenship has been advanced in due course of democratization and democracy consolidation, with which nationality has been relegated to a secondary position. Nevertheless, the issue of nationality resurfaces when incidents occur that have the salience of intra-national affinity and rivalry, such as the influx of Hong Kong immigrants to Taiwan.