“Taiwan’s fate was repeatedly reshaped by great powers according to their own strategic interests, often at negotiating tables where the people of Taiwan were not present,” said Ms. Sharon Yang, a history teacher at Tainan First Senior High School and faculty advisor during the Taiwan-Haverford global studies trip.
From the spotless subways, bustling night markets, and the unremitting hospitality I received during winter break, my Taiwan experience was transformative. Consequently, I was greatly worried that the Trump-Xi summit and the subsequent quiet pause on a $14 billion arms sale seemed to endanger the culture I experienced.
After all, Taiwan is always of “strategic interest.”
Surprisingly, many Taiwan exchange students were indifferent to the news.
“I heard about this recent meeting with the two presidents, but to be honest, I have been so busy with my final exams that I don’t really think about these things,” third-year student at the Tainan First Senior High School Paul Chen said.
Chen’s classmate, Owen Lin, shared a similar sentiment.
“To be honest, I still live my normal life, go to school and play with my friends like nothing happened, but when I watch the news, I feel a little stressed about the future,” Lin said. “This uncertainty makes it harder for me to plan ahead, like deciding whether to buy a house in Taiwan or study for a government job after I graduate.”
Their somewhat impartial attitudes contrasted with the fear I saw in the media. A Reuters Connect video displayed Taiwanese citizens firing rifles at paper silhouettes ahead of the summit. Additionally, a New York Times Article investigated the Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te’s obstacles, including being denied access from American airports en route to Eswatini, a country that still acknowledged Taiwanese sovereignty. My media consumption led me to expect that Taiwanese students would express similar fear for the fate of their nation.
However, Taiwan has had a substantial history of being deferential to power politics.
“The strategic ambiguity in the 1972 Shanghai Communiqué, the severing of official diplomatic relations between Taiwan and the United States in 1979, and the restrictions on arms sales in the 1982 August 17 Communiqué all made Taiwan deeply aware of the realities and vulnerabilities of international politics,” Ms. Yang said.
However, Ms. Yang urges her students to understand the facts over emotions.
“When I look at my students, I feel a deep sense of concern. They are only teenagers, working hard for their exams, college admissions, and future careers. Yet their future may be influenced by high-level meetings taking place far away in Washington or Beijing,” Ms. Yang said. “I do not want my students to fall into fear or anger. Instead, I hope they can learn to understand the world calmly and clearly. International politics is not simply about who is a friend and who is an enemy, nor is it a fairy tale of heroes and villains.”
I had initially thought Lin and Chen’s indifference was from a lack of information or care. However, it now looks less like indifference and more like the resilience that teachers like Ms. Yang work to instill, pushing students to see history and current geopolitics through a different lens, not one of aggression or fear, but of resilience. In truth, Taiwan has had uncertainty since the 1970s, and that may continue well beyond their lifetimes. Rather than being immobilized from fear of uncertainty, Taiwanese people had adapted, planned, and carried on with their lives.
Their resilience is not the absence of worry, but the drive to continue despite it.