CHANGING from a swimsuit into a low-cut dress, Beverly Chen sobbed bitterly backstage at the Miss Universe pageant.

She had not fluffed her lines about being in favour of world peace nor had she smeared her lipstick. But for the first time in the competition’s history, Miss Taiwan was last year refused the right to use her official title.

The organisers at the event in Panama insisted on calling her “Miss Chinese Taipei” in deference to Miss China.

Ms Chen, a finance student, was so outraged by the demotion that she has become a campaigner for formal independence from the mainland. She will appear tonight with President Chen, no relation, at a final election rally attended by half a million people before tomorrow’s vote, which is too close to call.

President Chen has been boosted by a groundswell of pro-independence sentiments during the campaign despite the growing economic attraction of mainland China, which regards Taiwan as a renegade province rather than a sovereign country.

“I would never say I am Chinese,” Ms Chen said: “I am Taiwanese and I hope Taiwan will be fully independent as soon as possible.”

About 70 per cent of the island’s population is native Taiwanese, while the rest are Han Chinese whose families arrived from the mainland after the Kuomintang (KMT) under Chiang Kai-shek lost a civil war against Mao’s Communists in 1949.

For five decades, the KMT imposed a Chinese mindset on Taiwan in preparation for its eventual return to the mainland. Four years ago, long after it became obvious that Communist rule had became permanent, the KMT lost power to President Chen’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which has its roots in the predominantly native Taiwanese south of the island.

President Chen, a native Taiwanese, set out to create a local identity. The word “Taiwan” was added to passports next to Taiwan’s official name, Republic of China, and new maps were issued that showed the mainland as a separate country.

Most importantly, President Chen lifted the KMT ban on speaking Taiwanese in schools and instead made language lessons in the island’s native tongue mandatory in primary schools.

Yang Zongxie, principal at a school in Taipei, said: “The KMT forced the local people to speak Mandarin after the civil war and buried everything Taiwanese. Now we have a chance to rediscover our past.” Others see a strong political agenda behind President Chen’s desire to foster a Taiwanese identity. The lifting of the language ban has been popular and is being heralded by the DPP as a major achievement.

On the campaign trail Bikhim Hsiao, a well-known legislator and former aide to President Chen, has talked about having to clean lavatories when a pupil as punishment for speaking Taiwanese.

Ms Chen had similar experiences in primary school. “The history and geography lessons were always about the mainland,” she said. “We learnt all the names of the rivers and the railway lines in China but nothing about Taiwan. It seemed strange to me even as a child.”

Other young celebrities have followed her lead and supported the DPP’s emphasis on “Taiwaneseness”.

Tseng Kuan-jung, a rapper, recorded a “Taiwan Song” which became the DPP campaign soundtrack and climbed to number three in the charts.

According to a recent poll by the Taipei-based United Daily News, the number of Taiwan inhabitants who regard themselves as “Taiwanese” has increased from 16 per cent in 1989 to 62 per cent today, while those who see themselves as “Chinese” fell from 52 per cent to 19 per cent.

President Chen has called a referendum alongside the election tomorrow that many see as a trial run for a future vote on formal independence.

Voters will be asked whether Taiwan should strengthen its defences against a Chinese missile attack while also opening negotiations with Beijing.

China yesterday strongly criticised the referendum but did not repeat past threats to invade Taiwan should it strive for sovereign status.

Ms Chen, who interrupted her finance course at an Australian university to live with her mother and campaign for the DPP, is hopeful that a conflict with China can be avoided despite recent tensions.

“In Panama, I got on really well with Miss China,” she said. "She even called me Miss Taiwan.”

Explore World News

• World Agenda

• Iraq News

• US & Americas News

• Europe News

• Middle East News

• Asia News

• Africa News

• Ireland News

Times Recommends

• Rio Tinto four held as China prepares case
• Diplomats must keep heads down and trousers up
• When in Rome should one make like Berlusconi?