Taiwanese Christian identity and political activism during the democratization of Taiwan after the 1970s – A case study of Rev. Dr. Kao Chun-Ming

From an imprisoned political criminal in the democratic movements to a pastor whom the president invited to be the national policy advisor, Rev. Dr. Kao Chun-Ming (1929-2019)’s life not only reflects his political advocacy based on his faith as a Christian and his national identity as Taiwanese but also reveals the dedication and sacrifice the generation of the pro-democratic fighters had down for democratization of Taiwan after the 1970s. This paper focuses on Kao’s *The Prison Letters* and two memoirs to analyze the two aspects of his public identity as a Taiwanese Christian. The paper argues that for Kao, the Taiwanese and Christian aspects of his identity always coexisted in his political activism, but due to the different regimes he faced, he chose to highlight different aspects of his identity; the Christian aspect was emphasized during his political struggle against the Kuomintang (KMT) authoritarian regime, and the Taiwanese aspect was accentuated after the democratization of Taiwan. In order to understand Kao’s political activism in democratization, the history of Taiwan needed to be first addressed.

In 1945, Japan lost the Second World War (WWII) and relinquished its colonial control over Taiwan. The Republic of China (ROC), controlled by the Kuomintang (KMT) party, gained sovereignty over Taiwan from Japan. In 1949, the KMT-controlled ROC government retreated to Taiwan island due to its military failure against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Out of the purpose of the anti-communist agenda, the KMT regime launched martial law and the *Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of National Mobilization for Suppression of the Communist Rebellion (Temporary Provisions)* and started its authoritarian control in Taiwan. KMT regime was able to maintain its authoritarian rule in the 1950s and 1960s, but when the 1970s arrived, due to ROC’s resignation from the United Nations (UN) and its constant ending of the formal diplomatic relationships with many countries, the KMT regime was deeply challenged diplomatically. The international challenge the KMT regime faced, combined with the rising middle class and the rapid economic growth in Taiwan, led to the upsurge of the domestic pro-democratic movements.[i] The Christians in Taiwan were not absent from the political advocacy of democracy. The then-General Secretary of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT), Rev. Dr. Kuo Chun-Ming, not only led the PCT to engage in political activism for democracy and human rights but also personally participated in assisting the escape of the political criminal, Shih Ming-The, which led to his imprisonment from 1980 to 1984 by the KMT regime.[ii]

In prison, Kao wrote many letters, which were collected and published first in 1983 and then in 1997, titled *The Prison Letters*.[iii] Although in *The Prison Letters*, Kao does not deny being Taiwanese, he chooses to accentuate the Christian aspect of his identity when he discusses his action of political activism by recurrently underscoring the Christian concepts of justice and love and his domestic and international connections with Christian communities. After Kao was released from prison in 1984, Taiwan went through many political transformations, including the end of martial law and the *Temporary Provisions*, the first universal presidential election, and finally, the first ruling party alternation in the history of the ROC when the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the presidential election in 2000. In the same year, Kao was invited by the DPP president, Chen Shui-Bian, to be the national policy advisor.[iv] With the political transformation, Taiwan stepped into the democratic era, and Kao published two memoirs in 2001 and 2017 after the democratization.[v] The two memoirs reveal when Kao recalls his political activism in the democratic movements, he emphasizes the Taiwanese aspect of his identity as the motivation by highlighting his suffering for Taiwan and his ideology of Taiwanese independence. Kao does not ignore his Christian faith in the memoirs, but he repeatedly underscores his nationality as Taiwanese and his suggestions for the future of Taiwan. The analysis of Kao’s *The Prison Letters* and his two memoirs manifests how Kao strategically elevated the Christian or Taiwanese aspects of his identity as the motivation for his political activism under different regimes. Both aspects of his identity existed throughout Kao’s entire life, and neither one completely overshadowed the other. The case study of Kao reflects the strategical political activism of Taiwanese Christians since the 1970s and how the political transformation from the authoritarian to the democratic regime deeply influenced the Taiwanese Christian identity and political activism.

[i] For further details of the political history of Taiwan, please refer to Denny Roy, Taiwan: A Political History (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2002).

[ii] Ming-Hong Hsu 許銘閎, “The Research of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan’s Political-Religious Relationship 台灣基督長老教會政教關係之研究” (Master Thesis, Taipei City, Soochow University, 2008), 82–100; 111–12.

[iii] Chun-Ming Kao 高俊明, Yu zhong shu jian 獄中書簡 [The Prison Letters], ed. Li Zhen Kao Lee 高李麗珍 (Tainan City: Ren guang chu ban : Xin lou shu fang fa xing dai li, 1997).

[iv] Roy, Taiwan: A Political History, 175–231; Chun-Ming Kao 高俊明, Gao Junming hui yi lu : mo nan ku bei xia de xin yang yu shi jian 高俊明回憶錄: 磨難苦杯下的信仰與實踐 [Memoirs of Kao Chun-Ming], ed. Ying-Chu Tu 杜英助 (Taipei City: Qian wei, 2017), 210–12.

[v] The two memoirs are Chun-Ming Kao 高俊明 and Li Zhen Kao Lee 高李麗珍, Shi zi jia zhi lu : gao jun ming mu shi hui yi lu 十字架之路: 高俊明牧師回憶錄 [The Road of Cross: The memoir of Rev. Kao Chun-Ming], ed. Hui-Ling Hu 胡慧玲 (Taipei City: Wang chun feng wen hua shi ye (gu fen) you xian gong si, 2001); Kao, Memoirs of Kao Chun-Ming.