Paradigm Series: Coming Posts with Taiwan in Search of a National Paradigm and More

Sunday June 02, by Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

The recent trouble Taiwan has had with the Philippines over the shooting of a Taiwan fisherman on the high seas has accentuated the many problems faced by Taiwan in its de facto state/nation and de jure state/nation as recognized by some 23 other nations.

The source of the problems is of course the hegemonic aims of the People's Republic of China (PRC) which operates from a pure hierarchical, power paradigm as it seeks to dominate the East and South China Seas as well as return to a mythic paradigm of past glory days of certain empires that existed in the changing borders in that region. Those paradigms in turn depend on a hierarchical Han chauvinistic paradigm that touts a basic belief in the "Animal Farm" hierarchy that within the borders of China and extended to the world, "all cultures and races are equal, but some are more equal than others."

Taiwan itself needs a national paradigm as it needs a national narrative and identity; that is not helped by the current Ma government that constantly tries to link itself to the "Animal Farm" paradigm of China. There will be a long series of posts on this; they will be spaced in between other posts. you will be able to distinguish them by a front mention that they are part of a "Paradigm Series" a topic for a coming book.