27 August 2024

Protests from China and Taiwan’s Kuomintang over the alleged mistreatment of a Mainland “folk religion group” visiting Taiwanese temples reveal a deeper controversy regarding Koxinga.

Koxinga is celebrated in both Mainland China and Taiwan, but for different reasons. Both regard Koxinga as a hero for expelling the Dutch from Taiwan in 1661 and establishing the Kingdom of Tungning, which lasted until 1683.

Koxinga’s story is tied to the transition from the Ming to the Qing dynasty, as he was a Ming loyalist who fought against the Qing conquest. He also considered invading the Philippines, which was then under Spanish rule, a move that is of current interest to the PRC due to ongoing territorial disputes with the Philippines. Koxinga’s anti-Filipino ambitions were notably influenced by an Italian Dominican friar, Vittorio Riccio, who pursued Catholic interests in the Philippines.

In China, Koxinga is celebrated as a hero who reclaimed Taiwan for China. While secular studies of him were promoted, his religious worship in Fujian was long suppressed as “feudal superstition.” However, some temples are now tolerated due to their role in connecting with Koxinga worshippers in Taiwan, where he is revered as a Taiwanese patriot and defender of the island. During the Japanese occupation of Taiwan, Koxinga was also honored by the Japanese, as his mother was Japanese and he was born in Hirado, Japan, though he always identified as Chinese.

And now the issue centers on a delegation of six Chinese individuals from a group claiming to be a “folk religion group from Fujian,” who visited Taiwan to “research” the worship of Koxinga, the 17th-century general and king.

Mainland China and the Kuomintang have protested that Taiwanese national security agents accompanied and monitored the group throughout their visit, calling this a violation of religious freedom

Taiwan’s opposition Kuomintang (which is more pro-China than President William Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party) criticized for allegedly infringing on the religious freedoms of foreign visitors, a charge more commonly leveled by Taiwan against Mainland China, which has detained Yiguandao and other Taiwanese religious activists who have entered the country.

The situation is further complicated by the broader context of Taiwan’s suspicion that Taoist and folk religion groups from Mainland China could be United Front agents or spies. The visit’s focus on Koxinga heightened the sensitivity of the issue.

Given the political dynamics, it is not surprising that Taiwan’s National Security Bureau keeps a close watch on these developments surrounding Koxinga.