My friends and I myself often make jokes of me being a “dual citizenship” student here in Duke Kunshan University.
 
It is not that I do have a dual citizenship, nor is it that I am having a secret identity affiliated. It is the ambiguous definition of international and Chinese students that somehow makes me, a Taiwanese student, a little awkward to fit into either of these categories.
 
Growing up under the social influences of the mainland China and the U.S., I’ve always been asked by other and pondered on this question as well, “Am I a Chinese or Taiwanese?” It seems puzzling to arrive at the conclusion. Having so many different external factors affecting Taiwan status as I am now studying in this Sino-American joint venture university, the Chinese students and the U.S. students that I am socially engaged with provide a whole new perspective that allowed me to re-evaluate this unstable position of my identity.
 
A lot of international students who are being exposed to the East Asia’s culture for the first time often asks about cross-strait relations. Although I have tried to explain it as briefly as possible, it is still too perplexed for an outsider to understand.
 
The role that the U.S. has played on cross-strait relationship since Nationalist government’s retreat to Taiwan has left many marks on Taiwan status in settling the China-Taiwan rivalry. From recognizing Republic of China (ROC) as the government of all China, to recognizing the People’s Republic of China (China) as the only legal government of China, the U.S. has taken some shifts in its position over the time.
 
After reestablishing diplomatic ties with China, the U.S. still remains to be informally grounded with Taiwan. As the U.S. agreed the arm sales to Taiwan and passed the Taiwan Travel Act, the current bilateral relations of Taiwan and the U.S. is upsetting China. While China upholding the “One-China” policy, it seems that the Taiwan question is more of a result of the U.S.-China relations instead of the Taiwan independence movement.
 
Before taking my Colombian friend back home for a brief Spring Festival trip, she had collected both the remarks from the Chinese mainland students and Taiwanese students on the Taiwan question. She noticed that all the Chinese mainland students seem to be went straight forward to the very same answer whereas the Taiwanese students handled this question cautiously and explained it with more nuances. Although she instinctively expected Taiwan to be culturally homogenous to China, she realized that Taiwan is actually very different from China in many aspects after a one-week long stay in Taipei.
 
These differences that China and Taiwan had developed from the U.S.-China relationship, I think, are what makes being Taiwanese students a little different from and a little similar to the Chinese students and international students in DKU at the same time. It may be a little troublesome at times, but it is also quite interesting to be able to observe the insights from Chinese and international students here in this Sino-American university.