Search

The mainstream discourse on cross-strait relations tends to reproduce the "crisis" than transform it. Analysts in Taiwan are complicit by loyally following US concepts, prescriptions, and strategies for the region. Some, however, are beginning to contest this traditional subjugation of Taiwan's interests and identity to US and Chinese hegemony. Nonetheless, they still abide by the US paradigm of triangular relations. This paper notes a third, emerging discourse that reframes US-China-Taiwan relations through a postcolonial understanding of sovereignty, cross-strait relations, and Taiwanese subjectivity. We characterize these three options, in reverse order, in Hirschman's terms of "exit," "voice, and "loyalty." But we amend these with Ling's differentiation of "formal" and "substantive" mimicry for "loyalty" and "voice," respectively. Both reflect conditions of postcolonial hybridity that mature, eventually, into a paradigmatic breakthrough or "exit." ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The state-centeredness of intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) reinforces the prevailing Westphalian international system. International organizations privilege cooperation among nation-states so as to ameliorate anarchy. However, events like the establishment of international human rights regimes and the advancement of globalization since the second half of the twentieth century have called into question whether this hegemonic form still represents the best route to global governance. When national governments lack accountability, serious inadequacies may develop. What happens when governments, through which the rights bestowed on individuals by international human rights covenants, are themselves violators of human rights, especially against those of ethnopolitical minorities? What happens when governments, which are entrusted to provide the best care to the well-being of their people, hide information and obstruct international assistance? These glaring gaps are in plain view in the way China initially responded to the crisis of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) of 2003. The World Health Organization (WHO) and China both went through a learning curve.In the era of globalization, the traditional state-centered approach is further inadequate when disputes over sovereignty hinder the rights to which a significant population is entitled under international law. A well-known anomaly in conventional international law and organization is the contest over Taiwan?s (or formally, Republic of China?s) international legal status and its consequent impact on the rights of the people of Taiwan and the benefits that the international community might have enjoyed with the participation of a significant player in global trade, technology, and democracy.This paper seeks to break some new ground in this theoretical and policy lacuna by presenting a sui generis model for Taiwan?s IGO participation that might simultaneously assure China?s concerns, enable Taiwan to play a part commensurate with its global importance, and permit the international society to benefit from the contribution of a key player and improved cross-strait relations. This model is grounded on the recognition that global governance in the era of globalization mandates the inclusion of all functional competent entities and will require adjustments in mindsets and practices. Its key elements are: (1) decoupling the issues of Taiwan?s IGO membership and diplomatic recognition; (2) amending charters or constitutions of those IGOs that allegedly only admit sovereign states so that they can also admit a functionally competent entity (for a particular issue area); (3) stating on Taiwan?s accession documents that admission into a given IGO does not have any impact on that body?s position on China representation or imply sovereignty for Taiwan; and (4) stipulating that Taiwan will automatically lose membership if it declares independence after its entry into the IGOs. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the military threat facing Taiwan, whose status as a sovereign state is weakly supported in the international community. It cites the threat posed by the determination of the People's Republic of China (PRC) to unite Taiwan with the mainland. It notes that China is determined to prevent Taiwan from declaring independence and to return the island to the mainland's governance. It mentions the significant problems posed by Taiwan Strait for the conduct of amphibious warfare.

The author claims that exercising sovereignty is no easier in a globalized world than it used to be. She argues that globalization has not eroded that traditional system because the role of powerful states still outweighs the desires of less powerful states to try to shift the power of the international system. She cites the reason why Taiwan ought to have a stronger ability to exercise sovereignty than virtually any other non-recognized entity.

China’s resumption of the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong (HK) in 1997 under the One Country Two Systems (1C2S) concept which allowed HK’s capitalistic system and way of life to continue while China would keep its socialist system (with Chinese cha ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]