More than 90% of people in Taiwan trace their ancestry to mainland China but the island’s inhabitants are slowly but steadily assuming an identity that is independent of their roots.

Surveys conducted by the National Chengchi University in Taiwan since 1992 suggest that more and more of the island’s inhabitants are identifying as Taiwanese, as opposed to Chinese.

According to available data, around a quarter of Taiwan’s residents identified as Chinese back in 1992, but that proportion, as of December 2021, had fallen to a mere 2.8%.

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In contrast, people identifying as strictly Taiwanese had grown from 17.6% in 1992 to a massive 62.3% as of December 2021.

People who identified as both Chinese and Taiwanese, meanwhile, had fallen from 46.4% in 1992 to 31.7% in 2021.

A graph depicting the change in people’s political attitudes over the course of the past three decades. (Source: Election Study Center, National Chengchi University, Taiwan)

The shift in people’s political attitudes indicate an increasing desire to assert an identity that is separate from communist mainland China, which is stepping up its efforts to reclaim Taiwan. People in Taiwan frequently claim that they enjoy the freedom in the island, which has a working democracy, in stark contrast to Beijing’s strict rule over the mainland.

The tension between China and Taiwan can be traced back to the period after World War II, when fighting between the nationalist government and the Mao Zedong-led Chinese Community Party resulted in the victory of the latter.

The defeated nationalist party, the Kuomintang, fled to nearby island Taiwan. The party became dominant in Taiwan, and has ruled the island for a significant part of its history.

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While Taiwan sees itself as an independent country, Beijing considers the island to be a breakaway province that must be reunited with the mainland.

In its push for reunification, China has stepped up military and diplomatic pressure on Taiwan over the past few years, and has consistently attempted to dissuade other nations from recognising Taiwan’s sovereignty: only 13 countries in addition to the Vatican consider Taiwan to be an independent nation.