Survival of the Fittest and the History of Taiwan and Political Powers

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Darwin's law of natural selection reveals that the natural world is indeed a brutal place, where those unfit for their environment will be supplanted by the better adapted. Just as the Galapagos Islands showcased the process of evolution within the natural world, the island of Taiwan has been a petri dish for natural selection of the political sphere even as the first western powers showed interest in the island. This early pre 1750s period of Taiwanese history had the factions of the Taiwanese Aborigines, Chinese and Dutch all striving for control over the island. As in early Taiwan along with the rest of the world, typically the actuality of who will have de facto rule is often dictated by military might rather than modern ethical ideal of who morally has the right to govern but this strength to grasp power is not the sole aspect of legitimacy to rule. There must also be additional attributes to gain power and keep it, such as the will to claim the title of ruler and a level of political competency to govern the land and its people. Looking back in hindsight the Taiwanese Aborigines, in comparison to the Dutch and Chinese, fulfill the requirements of political legitimacy, through military strength, governing prowess, drive for ownership and modern ethical views, answering the historical question, that has seeped into current political issues, of what faction had the right to rule early Taiwan.
The initial means of gaining ownership of a land, which is military force, was used differently between these three groups to acquire and hold onto their domain. Though the Dutch did use force against violent uprisings such as the incident where “half of the Mattau tribe” were destroyed, the Dutch typically used most of their m...

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... oppressed yet enduring aborigine’s legitimacy to rule early Taiwan, over the short-lived colonies of the Dutch and Chinese.
This right to rule defined by military might, will to claim ownership, governing competency and fulfillment of modern ethical views fall to the side of the Taiwanese aborigines. Though the aborigines may have achieved some of these points obliquely such as military strength, the colonizing powers lacked the will or even ability to completely control Taiwan without self-ruin which allowed the native tribes to endure. This truly reflects Darwinian law of survival of the fittest. Pure strength or an advanced military does not solely ensures one's survival but it is the ability to fit into in an environment that enables an entity to persist and outlast others in the natural world and within the spectrum of the often brutal political world.
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