The Unification Of China And The Problem Of Public Opinion In The Republic Of China In Taiwan

The Unification of China and the Problem of Public Opinion in the Republic of China in Taiwan

Breaking the China-Taiwan Impasse

Tensions between China and Taiwan are not likely to abate in the foreseeable future. The question of Taiwan's sovereignty is the major point of friction, and the continuing impasse between China and Taiwan is worrisome. Zagoria presents perspectives from Washington, Beijing, and Taipei on cross-strait tensions, exploring ways to break the current standoff. Tensions between China and Taiwan are not likely to abate in the foreseeable future. The question of Taiwan's sovereignty is the major point of friction, and the continuing impasse between China and Taiwan is worrisome. Should critical political negotiations falter, relations are likely to take on stronger military overtones, and the PRC may well develop a sense of urgency about Taiwan drifting towards independence. These, at least, are the broad conclusions drawn from the ongoing dialogues among top U.S., Chinese, and Taiwanese figures, sponsored by the National Committee on American Foreign Policy. This Track II project provides a forum for top policy analysts from each country to discuss trilateral relations in a frank and constructive manner, and is an effort to explore means of peacefully resolving the current impasse. Among the more significant findings is that the more serious risks of conflict will probably occur in the distant future, hinging on whether economic integration can gradually lead to a reduction of political tensions, and that the United States should continue to oppose any declaration of independence by Taiwan and any use of force by China.

Taiwan and China

At publication date, a free ebook version of this title will be available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. China’s relation to Taiwan has been in constant contention since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in October 1949 and the creation of the defeated Kuomintang (KMT) exile regime on the island two months later. The island’s autonomous sovereignty has continually been challenged, initially because of the KMT’s insistence that it continue to represent not just Taiwan but all of China—and later because Taiwan refused to cede sovereignty to the then-dominant power that had arisen on the other side of the Taiwan Strait. One thing that makes Taiwan so politically difficult and yet so intellectually fascinating is that it ­­is not merely a security problem, but a ganglion of interrelated puzzles. The optimistic hope of the Ma Ying-jeou administration for a new era of peace and cooperation foundered on a landslide victory by the Democratic Progressive Party, which has made clear its intent to distance Taiwan from China’s political embrace. The Taiwanese are now waiting with bated breath as the relationship tautens. Why did détente fail, and what chance does Taiwan have without it? Contributors to this volume focus on three aspects of the evolving quandary: nationalistic identity, social economy, and political strategy.