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On March 22, 2008, Taiwan elected a new President hence not only its domestic politics but also its relations with China have entered into a new phase. Taiwan's new President Ma Ying-jeou suggested and proposed a series of political standing points and views which are quite different with those of former President Chen Shui-bian. Compared with Chen, Ma expresses more open views on many issues, particularly on his cross-strait policy. For instance, he re-started the cross-strait negotiations which had been stopped for several years under the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Chen Shui-bian's rule. Taiwan therefore signed many historical agreements with China. Ma Ying-jeou suggests having more controllable and stable cross-strait relations under the insistence of Taiwan's sovereignty. However, although the cross-strait relations seem to progress towards a more positive direction, there are still some points that need to be clarified and investigated. The most outstanding point is China's attitudes to Taiwan; that is to say, China apparently separates political issues from economic ones. Therefore, this paper attempts to investigate cross-strait relations by means of examining their contacts and exchanges on trade, governmental, social and security issues. That is, the author wants to examine whether Ma's policies have changed the cross-strait relations and the prospects of cross-strait relations. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the eve of the ROC's national celebration day, a news report about PRC's official occupied the headline in Taiwan. The news says Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou will meet top China negotiator Chen Yunlin to discuss direct passenger and cargo flights in late October. According to Taiwan's topic negotiator on China policy, this meeting will be the largest breakthrough in the cross-Strait relations since 1949. The story behind this news are a Republic which began as a one-pary dominated authoritarin government in 1911 to a fledgling democracy which tries to reshape its relations with Mainland China in order to bring more business opportunities for its citizens through cross-Strait trade than the former administration did. This paper intends to trace this development of citizen's rights in the formation of the Republic, and its political and economic reforms in the later periods. The concepts of authority, territory and rights will be used as analytical tools to dissect different shape and form of political governance, subjectivities, and normative discourse in configuring the people's rights to the Republic and its implications on the citizens' rights claims to the PRC. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]