nach oben

Journal of Chinese Political Science

Erschienen in:

14.12.2016 | RESEARCH ARTICLE

Changing Taiwanese Identity and Cross-Strait Relations: a Post 2016 Taiwan Presidential Election Analysis

verfasst von: Yitan Li, Enyu Zhang

Erschienen in: Journal of Chinese Political Science | Ausgabe 1/2017

Einloggen

Aktivieren Sie unsere intelligente Suche, um passende Fachinhalte oder Patente zu finden.

search-config

KI-gestützte Suche

Aus

Abstract

Although cross-strait relations have been the most stable in the last eight years under the pro-mainland KMT government, the pro-independence DPP scored a major victory in the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections. This paper examines ways identity changes in Taiwan have influenced how Taiwanese view and deal with cross-strait relations and reactions from the mainland after the January elections. Using constructivism as the theoretical framework and survey data, we argue that Taiwan’s continued democratization has created a different social and political experience. This experience has solidified over time and created a unique Taiwanese identity. As time passes, the KMT, which has a stronger historical and social lineage with the mainland, is being weakened by Taiwan’s changing experience and identity. Nevertheless, peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait are not only essential for people on both sides of the strait, they are essential for the region and the world. Both the new DPP government and the mainland government must rethink their strategies and policies in order to construct a new framework to ensure continued peace and stability in the region.

Vorheriger Artikel Cross-Strait Relations in the Aftermath of Taiwan’s 2016 Elections

Nächster Artikel China, Global Ecopolitics and Antarctic Governance: Converging Paths?

Sie haben noch keine Lizenz? Dann Informieren Sie sich jetzt über unsere Produkte:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Jetzt informieren

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Jetzt informieren

James Soong was a KMT member. However, he ran as an independent candidate in 2000 and has been running as a PFP candidate since 2012.

For a more detailed discussion about the Sunflower Movement, please see [31]

“Taiwan president-elect Tsai Ing-wen: finishing the last mile of the last four years”. Asia Times, accessed on January 28th, 2016, http://atimes.com/2016/01/taiwan-president-elect-tsai-ing-wen-finishing-the-last-mile-of-the-last-four-years/.

The term “nine-in-one” refers to nine local elections conducted simultaneously on November 29, 2014 in Taiwan. These elections are for 1) Municipal Mayors, 2) Municipal Councilors, 3) Chiefs of indigenous districts in municipalities, 4) Councilors of indigenous districts in municipalities, 5) County Magistrates (City Mayors), 6) County (City) Councilors, 7) Township Chiefs, 8) Township Councilors, and 9) chiefs of village.

See [2].

Hung’s removal and replacement were mainly due to her inability to garner voter support for the KMT. Her views regarding cross-strait relations may be viewed by many as leaning too much in the direction of the deep blue camp in the KMT. For example, she supports the signing of a peace treaty with mainland China. Her positions may be viewed by many Taiwanese as deviating too far from the position of the middle voters. As a result, she was unable to narrow the distance between the KMT and DPP in the polls. The KMT finally decided to replace her with Eric Chu in October 2015.

Chan, Cloria, and Nectar Gan. Four key reasons Kuomintang lost the Taiwan election. South China Morning Post January 17th, 2016, accessed on March 7th, 2016, http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1901897/four-key-reasons-kuomintang-lost-taiwan-election?page=all.

For example, Yi-Wen Yu et al. argue that China’s rising economy does not deepen cross-Strait integration but rather crowds out Taiwanese business. See [32], Wong and Wu’s recent finding suggest that Beijing’s economic enticement is very limited. See [33]

For a more detailed discussion, see Li, Yitan. 2014. Constructing Peace in the Taiwan Strait: a constructivist analysis of the changing dynamics of identities and nationalisms. Journal of Contemporary China 23 (85): 119–142. Even the pro-mainland president Ma Ying-jeou clearly stated the “no unification, no independence and no use of force” principles during his 2008 inaugural presidential speech. Although Ma Ying-jeou and Xi Jinping had a historic meeting in November 2015 in Singapore, the first ever meeting of the leaders from both sides of the Taiwan Strait since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, a move towards a clear path of political unification is not on Taiwan’s agenda. This reflects the fact that economic and social integrations in the Taiwan Strait are not translating into concrete steps towards political integration. Now with the DPP controlled government led by Tsai Ing-wen, that prospect is even dimmer.

Four major ethnic groups exist in Taiwan, namely the Indigenous Peoples (Yuanzhumin, 2%), Mainlanders (Waishengren, 13%), Hakkas (Kejiaren, 15%), and Hoklos (Fulaoren, 70%). With the exception of the 2% Indigenous Peoples, the other three major ethnic groups are all Han Chinese. See [18]

For a more detailed discussion, please see [34]

The estimates range from 18,000 to 28,000. Information gathered from the National 228 Memorial Museum in Taipei, Taiwan on December 8th, 2014.

Chen Shui-bain only won 39.30% of the vote. Because James Soong split from the KMT and ran as an independent in the 2000 election, Soong essentially diverted 36.80% of the votes from the KMT candidate Lien Chan, who received 23.10% of the votes (see Table 1).

Taiwan uses a single member district plurality voting system. According to Maurice Duverger, a single member district plurality voting system tends to foster a two-party system. In the January 2016 presidential election for examples, candidates from three political parties, namely the KMT, DPP, and PFP, competed with each other. In the LY election held concurrently with the presidential election, twenty-nine parties are represented in the LY.

See [21].

“China will not interfere in Taiwan’s ongoing presidential elections, Beijing leadership reiterated on Saturday”, Sputniknews, January 16th, 2016, accessed on January 16th, 2016, <http://sputniknews.com/politics/20160116/1033233121/china-taiwan-presidential-elections.html>.

We plan on addressing Chinese citizens’ reaction in a separate project.

Wang Yi, remarks made at the Statesmen’s Forum: Wang Yi, Minister of Foreign Affairs, PRC, Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Brookings Institute, Washington, D.C., February 25, 2016, accessed on February 29, 2016, <http://csis.org/files/attachments/160225_statesmen_forum_wang_yi.pdf>.

“蔡英文大选获胜致大陆赴台游客减少台旅游业担忧 (Mainland tourists to Taiwan decrease after Tsai Ing-wen wins election, tourist industry in Taiwan is worried”, Sina.com, February 22, 2016, accessed on March 3, 2016, <http://mil.news.sina.com.cn/china/2016-02-22/doc-ifxprucu3098331.shtml>.

Staff writer, “Tsai’s approval rating hits new low”, Taipei Times, October 15, 2016, accessed on October 29, 2016, <http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2016/10/15/2003657199>.

“Hallucinations and fleeting clouds”, The Economist, January 23rd, 2016, accessed on March 3rd, 2016, <http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21688851-responding-unwelcome-election-result-taiwan-china-has-few-good-options-mainland-and>.

“China cutting number of tourists to Taiwan by half”, Straits Times, June 12, 2016, accessed on October 29, 2016, < http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/china-cutting-number-of-tourists-to-taiwan-by-half >.

“Hallucinations and fleeting clouds”, The Economist, January 23rd, 2016, accessed on March 19th, 2016, <http://www.economist.com/node/21688851/print >.

“Sorry, you’re not invited: UN aviation agency snubs Taiwan in sign of pressure from Beijing”, South China Morning Post, September 23, 2016, accessed on October 29, 2016, <http://www.scmp.com/print/news/china/policies-politics/article/2021950/sorry-youre-not-invited-un-aviation-agency-snubs-taiwan>.

Teddy Ng, “Xi Jinping says efforts must be made to close the China-Taiwan political divide”, South China Morning Post, October 6th, 2013, accessed on March 7th, 2016, <http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1325761/xi-jinping-says-political-solution-taiwan-cant-wait-forever >.

Joyce Lee, “China’s Most Powerful Man: Xi Jinping”, Time, September 25, 2015, accessed on March 7th, 2016, <http://time.com/4050419/xi-jinping-china-president/>. Also see Zachary Keck, “Xi Jinping: China’s Most Powerful Leader Since Deng and Mao?” The Diplomat, August 5th, 2013, accessed on March 7th, 2016, <http://thediplomat.com/2013/08/xi-jinping-chinas-most-powerful-leader-since-deng-and-mao/>.

For a more detailed discussion, please see [35]

For a detailed discussion about China’s military hawks, see [34]

Peter Gries argues that Chinese nationalism, particular bottom-up popular nationalism has increased significantly in China in recent years. For example, popular Chinese nationalism played an important role in shaping how President Jiang Zemin handled the 1999 Chinese embassy bombing crisis with his counterpart U.S. President Bill Clinton. See [36‐38].

See [22]

Ibid.

Tsai Ing-wen, “Forging Ahead: Achieving Reforms to Make the Country Great”, National Day Address, October 10, 2016, accessed on October 30, 2016, <http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aipl/201610100004.aspx>.

Hickey, Dennis V. 2016. Taiwan’s Diplomatic Partners in the Global Community After the DPP Returns to Power. Institute for Taiwan-America Studies Policy Brief, Washington, DC: ITAS, May 16, 2016.

Huang, Min Hua. 2014. Taiwan’s Changing Political Landscape: The KMT’s Landslide Defeat in the Nine-in-One Elections. Brookings East Asia Commentary No 83, December 2014; accessed on 28 Jan 2016, http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2014/12/08-taiwan-political-landscape-elections-huang.

Blanchard, Jean-Marc, and Dennis V. Hickey. 2012. More than two “sides” to every story: an introduction to new thanking about the Taiwan issue. In New thinking about the Taiwan issue: theoretical insights into its origins, dynamics, and prospects, ed. Jean-Marc Blanchard and Dennis V. Hickey, 1–27. New York: Routledge.

Chen, Zhimin. 2006. Nationalism, internationalism and Chinese foreign policy. Journal of Contemporary China 14(42): 35–53.

Liu, Frank C.S., and Francis L.F. Lee. 2013. Country, national, and pan-national identification in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Asian Survey 53(6): 1112–1134.CrossRef

Waltz, Kenneth N. 2001. Man, the state, and war: a theoretical analysis. New York: Columbia University Press.

Mearsheimer, John J. 2001. The tragedy of great power politics. New York: Norton.

Walt, Stephen M. 1985. Alliance formation and the balance of world power. International Security 9(4): 3–43.CrossRef

Mitrany, David. 1975. The functional theory of politics. New York: St. Martin’s Press.

10.

Kant, Immanuel. 1939. Perpetual Peace. New York: Columbia University Press.

11.

Zhong, Yang. 2016. Explaining National Identity Shift in Taiwan. Journal of Contemporary China 25(99): 336–352.CrossRef

12.

Wendt, Alexander. 1999. Social theory of international politics. Oxford: Cambridge University Press.CrossRef

13.

Jepperson, Ronald, Alexander Wendt, and Peter J. Katzenstein. 1996. Norms, identity, and culture in national security. In The culture of National Security: norms and identity in world politics, ed. Peter J. Katzenstein. New York: Columbia University Press.

14.

Brown, Melissa. 2004. Is Taiwan Chinese?: the impact of culture, power, and migration on changing identities. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRef

15.

Chang, Mao-kuei. 2000. On the origins and transformation of Taiwanese national identity. China Perspectives 28: 51–70.

16.

Wakabayashi, Masahiro. 2006. Taiwanese nationalism and the “unforgettable other”. In China’s rise, Taiwan’s dilemmas and international peace, ed. Edward Friedman, 6–15. New York: Routledge.

17.

Wakabayashi, Masahiro. 2006. Taiwanese nationalism and the “unforgettable other”. In China’s rise, Taiwan’s dilemmas and international peace, ed. Edward Friedman, 11–12. New York: Routledge.

18.

Shih, C., and M. Cheng. 2010. Taiwanese identity and the memories of 2–28: a case for political reconciliation. Asian Perspective 34(4): 85–113.

19.

Lynch, Daniel C. 2004. Taiwan’s self-conscious nation-building project. Asian Survey 44(4): 513.CrossRef

20.

Hsu, S. Philip. 2010. Between identity quest and risk aversion: lessons from the Chen Shui-bian presidency for maintaining cross strait stability. Journal of Contemporary China 19(66): 693–717.CrossRef

21.

Liu, Frank C.S. 2015. “Survey on Cross-Strait Relations”, Institute in Political Science, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung, Republic of China (Taiwan), November 20th – December 14th, 2015.

22.

Lin, Gang. 2016. Beijing’s new strategies towards a changing Taiwan. Journal of Contemporary China 25(99): 321–335.CrossRef

23.

Bush, Richard. 2015. Taiwan’s January 2016 Elections and Their Implications for Relations with China and the United States. Asia Working Group Paper 1, Foreign Policy at Brookings (December 2015), accessed on 29 Feb 2016, http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2015/12/taiwan-elections-china-us-implications-bush/taiwan-elections-china-us-implications-bush.pdf.

24.

Baldwin, David A. 1985. Economic Statecraft. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

25.

Li, Yitan. 2014. US economic sanctions against China: a cultural explanation of sanction effectiveness. Asian Perspective 38(2): 311–335.

26.

Li, Xueying. 2016 China’s forceful ‘reminder’ to Taiwan. Strait Times, March 19th, 2016, accessed on 19 Mar 2016, http://www.straitstimes.com/world/chinas-forceful-reminder-to-taiwan.

27.

Blanchard, Ben and J.R. Wu. 2016. With Gambia move, China ends diplomatic truce with Taiwan. Reuters, March 17th, 2016, accessed on 18 Mar 2016, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-gambia-idUSKCN0WJ1DT.

28.

van der Wees, Gerrit. 2016. Taiwan and the World Health Assembly. The Diplomat, May 10, 2016, accessed on 29 Oct 2016, http://thediplomat.com/2016/05/taiwan-and-the-world-health-assembly/.

29.

Fravel, M. Taylor. 2005. Regime insecurity and international cooperation: explaining China’s compromises in territorial disputes. International Security 30(2): 46–83.CrossRef

30.

Hickey, Dennis. 2013. Wake up to reality: Taiwan, the Chinese mainland and peace across the Taiwan Strait. Journal of Chinese Political Science 18(1): 1–20.CrossRef

31.

Liu, Frank C.S., and Yitan Li. 2016. Generation matters: Taiwan’s perceptions of mainland China and attitudes towards Cross-Strait trade talks. Journal of Contemporary China. doi:10.1080/10670564.2016.1223107.

32.

Yu, Yi-Wen, Ko-Chia Yu, and Tse-Chun Lin. 2016. Political economy of Cross-Strait relations: is Beijing’s patronage policy on Taiwanese business sustainable? Journal of Contemporary China 25(99): 372–388.CrossRef

33.

Wong, Stan Hok-wui, and Wu. Nicole. 2016. Can Beijing buy Taiwan? An empirical assessment of Beijing’s agricultural trade concessions to Taiwan. Journal of Contemporary China 25(99): 353–371.CrossRef

34.

Li, Yitan. 2014. At the nexus of new challenges: China’s leadership change and Cross-Strait relations. Fudan Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences 7(1): 57–76.CrossRef

35.

Li, Yitan, Patrick James, and A. Cooper Drury. 2009. Diversionary dragons, or, “talking tough in Taipei”: Cross-Strait relations in the new millennium. Journal of East Asian Studies 9: 369–398.CrossRef

36.

Gries, Peter Hays. 2005. China’s new nationalism: pride, politics, and diplomacy. Berkeley: University of California Press.

37.

Li, Yitan. 2014. Constructing peace in the Taiwan Strait: a constructivist analysis of the changing dynamics of identities and nationalisms. Journal of Contemporary China 23(85): 119–142.CrossRef

38.

Gries, Peter Hays, Derek Steiger, and Tao Wang. 2016. Popular nationalism and China’s Japan policy: the Diaoyu Islands protests, 2012–2013. Journal of Contemporary China 25(98): 264–276.CrossRef

Titel: Changing Taiwanese Identity and Cross-Strait Relations: a Post 2016 Taiwan Presidential Election Analysis
verfasst von: Yitan Li
Enyu Zhang
Publikationsdatum: 14.12.2016
Verlag: Springer Netherlands
Erschienen in: Journal of Chinese Political Science / Ausgabe 1/2017
Print ISSN: 1080-6954
Elektronische ISSN: 1874-6357
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11366-016-9452-9

Springer Professional

Abstract

Bitte loggen Sie sich ein, um Zugang zu Ihrer Lizenz zu erhalten.

Sie haben noch keine Lizenz? Dann Informieren Sie sich jetzt über unsere Produkte:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Weitere Artikel der Ausgabe 1/2017

Cross-Strait Relations in the Aftermath of Taiwan’s 2016 Elections

Domenico Lombardi and Hongying Wang, eds. Enter the Dragon: China in the International Financial System

Kevin P. Gallagher, The China Triangle: Latin America's China Boom and the Fate of the Washington Consensus

China, Global Ecopolitics and Antarctic Governance: Converging Paths?

The Evolution of Contemporary China Studies in Singapore: From the Regional Cold War to the Present

Coordinated Rural-Urban Development in China: a New Social Spatial Reorganization Plan for Urbanization, Migration, and Rural Development

Premium Partner