Humanity at Stake: China’s Aggression, Taiwan’s Democracy, and 23 Million Citizens’ Human Right to Self-Determination

Abraham Young
CreateSpace (2008)
ISBN 9781438214115
Reviewed by Nikki Pringle for Reader Views (7/08)


“Humanity at Stake” recounts a conversation that its author had with two of his fellow volunteers at a non-profit bookstore in New York City. The topic of Taiwanese and Chinese relations was discussed by the three men; one Chinese-American, one Taiwanese-American, and a US born American who had formerly served overseas in the United States Army.

After their discussion, Abraham Young (the Taiwanese-American of the group) decided to retell the dialogue in the pamphlet-booklet presented to readers. The political history of Taiwan is reviewed, although the footnotes included in the book give much more of the detail than the conversation did.

In 1949, members of the Kuomintang Party (KMT) were overthrown by the Chinese Communist party, and retreated across the Taiwan Strait from China to Taiwan. The KMT massacred tens of thousands of Taiwanese and imprisoned countless other intellectuals, businessmen, and civic leaders that they deemed to be Chinese Communist spies. Martial law ruled the island until 1987.

Taiwan eventually transitioned to a democratic government, but, as the author notes, “…modern day China has felt it…right to militarily and politically force Taiwan in to submission under China’s own definition of a separate country’s nationhood, or supposed lack thereof.” Evidence of this point is the Chinese military’s positioning of over 1,200 missiles towards Taiwan, as well as their growing fleet of naval vessels and submarines that give their army the ability to easily overrun the Taiwan Strait between the two countries.

What I find interesting about the book is that Young doesn’t just tell his (the Taiwanese) side of the story without addressing what he sees as the misconceptions of Chinese, American, and other non-Taiwanese people. He willingly addresses these points with what he sees to be the truth behind the misconceptions and is able to review the points and counterpoints of the situation with a level head.

While I applaud Abraham Young’s attempt to bring the political discourse and abhorrent treatment of the Taiwanese people to the forefront, I found the format of “Humanity at Stake” somewhat lacking. The recounted conversation does not flow well. Too many points are crammed in to one long sentence, so much so that I found myself constantly re-reading things because the original point was too often lost by the end of the sentence. The footnotes are very informative, but some are so lengthy that by the time I finish reading them I had forgotten what was taking place in the conversation when I left it to read the footnote. If you are interested in Taiwanese-Chinese relations, “Humanity at Stake” will not answer all of your questions, but is a good stepping stone to more reading and research.

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