It’s important to check the political reality before falling victim to emotion when it comes to discussing issues of independence.

The News Lens
Date: 2017/10/05
By: Hector Muñoz

It was when I moved to Barcelona for college that I first encountered Catalan

Photo Credit：AP/ 達志影像

nationalism and its narratives. Until then, in the neighboring region of Aragón, I had only been exposed to occasional outbursts of its counter narrative, Spanish nationalism.

Later on, when I moved to China, I learned that both the Chinese government and the people held similar views towards Taiwan. And finally, when I landed in Taiwan, I realized that cross-Strait relations dominated political discourse, dividing the island into two opinions, as well as two colors. This journey across different regions and cultures has allowed me to observe both sides of the two territorial disputes. What I have learned, too, is that establishing parallelisms between them is more complicated than it seems.

Nowadays, secessionism is spreading rapidly in Catalonia, and Taiwan is reacting with unprecedented sympathy. Articles both in English and Chinese have been shared on Facebook via popular media platforms. Taiwanese scholars and activists expressed their opinions on the subject, mostly criticizing the Spanish central Government, or displayed their support by showing the Catalan flag on their Facebook profiles. The question is, where does this support come from? Do the China-Taiwan and the Spain-Catalonia conflicts share so many similarities that mutual identification can occur naturally?    [FULL  STORY]