This paper examines the ethnic identification of Taiwanese merchants in Southeast Asia and the way they choose their nationalities during 1895-1945 (Japanese Colonial Era). Research reveals that those Taiwanese merchants did not choose their nationalities in accordance with their identification; instead, they decided their nationalities from the perspective of pragmatism. For example, at the beginning of entrepreneurship, Taiwanese merchants got help from the network of overseas Chinese merchants, because they wanted to escape from Japanese colonial governance; then in order to enjoy the extraterritoriality, get free from burdensome taxes and discrimination, and receive financial aid from the Japanese government, they prefer Japanese nationality. Due to the privileges those Taiwanese merchants enjoyed, many overseas Chinese merchants, such as Fujianese, also chose the Japanese nationality.

Meanwhile, based on the Southern expansion policy, the Japanese government provided Taiwanese merchants convenience, granted them Japanese citizenship. The Taiwanese merchants had gradually recognized themselves as Japanese while enjoying the privilege of Japanese nationality.

As the Japanese Empire expanded southward, Taiwanese merchants also headed south, playing a role in the implementation of the Japanese government’s policy. Because of the choice of Japanese nationality, Taiwanese merchants in Southeast Asia were identified as Japanese by European colonial government. However, in the process of the perspective of pragmatism, Taiwanese merchants in Southeast Asia were neither identified as Chinese by overseas Chinese, nor identified as Japanese by overseas Japanese.

Therefore, in the community of Taiwanese merchants in Southeast Asia, Taiwanese merchants identified themselves as “Taiwanese.”