Invisible Nation makes case for ending Taiwan’s isolation and recognizing its democratic identity

A highly regarded documentary highlighting the rise of Taiwanese identity will be screened at 7 p.m. on Wednesday (August 27) at Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas in Vancouver. Invisible Nation filmmaker Vanessa Hope was able to conduct extensive behind-the-scenes interviews with the country’s first female president, Tsai Ing-wen, who headed the national government from 2016 to 2024.

“I had a local film crew and we were there when President Tsai won,” Hope told Pancouver last year. “I was blown away and I just thought this is a huge story.”

Hope had lived in Taiwan in the 1990s. She also has a PhD from Columbia University and worked at the Council on Foreign Relations and the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. So when she wrote a proposal for the president’s office in partnership with local Taiwanese producer Sylvia Feng, it was approved.

President Tsai opened her schedule for five weeks in May of 2017, which was just the beginning of a series of interviews. Invisible Nation was released in 2023.

“What became clear was the sense of Taiwanese identity evolved with Taiwan’s democracy,” Hope said.

Invisible Nation highlights how the obfuscation of the differences between Taiwan and China has marginalized Taiwan in the global community. This has occurred even though it’s a thriving democracy with a great deal to offer to the world. Hence, the title of the film.

Watch the trailer for Invisible Nation.

Dictators contributed to Taiwan’s invisible status

The director attributes this situation, in part, to the role of two dictators in advancing a “One China” idea. Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek ruled Taiwan with an iron fist from the end of the Second World War until his death in 1975. He claimed that he was the rightful ruler of Taiwan and all of China, even though he lost the Chinese Civil War to the Communists.

Meanwhile, People’s Republic of China dictator Mao Zedong claimed that Taiwan was a wayward province, even though it has its own flag, national legislature, currency, passports, and all the other trappings of an independent nation.

Martial law continued in Taiwan until 1987 under dictatorship of his Chiang’s son, Chiang Ching-kuo. In the late 1980s, the People’s Republic of China crushed democracy advocates in Tiananmen Square; around the same time, Chiang Ching-kuo’s successor, Lee Teng-hui, started making moves to transform Taiwan into a democracy with freedom of speech.

In her documentary, Hope points out that the People’s Republic of China has never controlled Taiwan for a single day. But former U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger played a key role in advancing China’s position on the international stage that it had a legitimate claim over Taiwan.

“I believe it was wrong of him to never visit Taiwan, and to not allow Taiwan’s democracy to be recognized when it came into being under [former president] Lee Teng-hui in 95-96,” Hope told Pancouver last year. “There was a call among Congress members to do just that, and Kissinger shut it down. So, I think there has been a co-opting of him and his interests. He made a fortune in China. That blinded him to real diplomatic solutions.”

Hope will participate in Q&A

Her film raises intriguing questions about Taiwan’s standing as an independent nation under international law.

The Vancouver screening will include a Q&A moderated by Vina Nadjibulla, vice president, research and strategy with the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. She played a key role in advocating for the release of her estranged husband, Michael Kovrig, and Michael Spavor when they were being held hostage for more than 1,000 days by the Chinese government. This followed Canada’s arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on a provisional warrant issued by the U.S. government.

The panel includes Taipei Economic and Cultural Office director general Angel Liu and UBC political science professor Yves Tiberghien. Hope, the director of Invisible Nation, will join the Q&A via a virtual connection.