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The PRC-Taiwan diplomatic rivalry has not spared the South Pacific islands, a region only rarely mentioned within a Western strategy for Asia. This paper argues that the PRC and Taiwan have, since the 1970s, become players in their own right in Oceania, raising new variables in an uneventful area. Beijing and Taipei have made energetic efforts out of all proportion to draw such tiny islands to either camp. The elusive reasons are dissected herein. Wary of Western hegemony, the region's leaders have turned to Asia for offers of trade and aid, and have played the PRC and Taiwan against each other. This paper seeks to: explain Beijing's and Taipei's goals in lands that yield seemingly negligible gains; show how such activism has impacted Oceania; determine the region's perceptions and reactions; portray the relative position of all players; and point out future problems. The study is divided into contentious points crystallized over time: Cold War decolonization and the Chinese/Taiwanese arrival; aid, trade, and investment; fishing disputes; the role of China's navy; the region's nuclear-free zone; UN and South Pacific Forum dialogues; and the region's social economic, environmental ethnic, and security concerns. The study concludes that the supremacy of Chinese and Taiwanese global commercial considerations aims to demand a specific institutional-geopolitical alignment in Oceania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taiwan has had to conduct a foreign economic policy (FEP) within a constricted international space given the island's "contested statehood" predicament. While the dynamic nature of Taiwan's newly industrialized economic development and the government's "resourceful" economic diplomacy strategies have provided Taipei with increasing room for FEP maneuvers, the "mainland China" factor continues to loom large. This paper contends that the People's Republic of China (PRC) exerts orientating gravitational forces upon Taiwan's FEP that are growing in strength. These forces comprise two main aspects. The first concerns the gravitational pull of the PRC economy upon Taiwan's economy that centers on the burgeoning growth of cross-Strait commerce and the ever more palpable transnational economic space this interaction is creating. Here, Taipei must primarily weigh the risks and benefits of further economic integration with mainland China. The second aspect relates to the domain of economic diplomacy, where Taiwan must navigate in a wider international economic system in which the PRC is exerting increasingly powerful economic and political gravitational forces. Discussion on this broad issue is examined in the context of Taiwan's pursuit of economic security in the international system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work explores the way in which Taiwan's extensive economic interactions with the mainland affect cross-Strait relations. These economic interactions occur not only within a context of mainland-Taiwan political tension, but also within a broader environment of economic globalization wherein the international community is dependent on economic output from both sides of the Taiwan Strait. The paper begins by examining Beijing's and Taipei's views and policies toward cross-Strait economic exchanges. While Beijing sees economic exchanges as beneficial for both reunification with Taiwan and economic growth, Taipei worries that the pace of economic exchange reduces the island's security and political flexibility. The second section lays out the details of increasing trade and investment across the Taiwan Strait, while the third part looks at Taiwanese investments in the electronic sector. The final section assesses the impact of economic exchange on cross-Strait relations. This work argues that a web of investment and trade is increasingly tying Taiwan and the mainland to each other and the international division of labor. These links make disruptive political action on the part of the mainland or Taiwan increasingly costly for both primary players, as well as the international economy, and thus serve to reinforce the political status quo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines Taiwan's drive to gain a voice in the most important global institution related to public health--the World Health Organization (WHO). The article provides a general outline of Taiwan's participation in international organizations, explores several considerations that have led Taiwan to seek membership in the WHO, and discusses the obstacles Taipei must overcome in order to gain admission to the WHO. The paper suggests that, while the impediments confronting this movement are formidable, Taiwan and the international community should accelerate efforts in support of Taipei's application for observer status in the WHO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's success in achieving economic growth has created speculation that China will become a great power in the twenty-first century. The rise of China is particularly alarming given the resurgence of Chinese nationalism that is occurring, in the People's Republic of China (PRC) today. How should we interpret the rise of China? What are the implications of nationalist appeals on Beijing's policy of national reunification with Taiwan? Moreover, has the rise of nationalism made Beijing's international behavior more aggressive? These are important questions. Using a case study of the recent changes in Beijing's Taiwan policy, this paper argues that the rise of nationalism does not necessarily make China a threat to the international community because nationalism has not driven China into taking irrational action against Taiwan. Despite nationalist rhetoric, Beijing's policy of national reunification has not been particularly inflexible Although Beijing has intermittently used the strategy of military coercion and peaceful offense, nationalism has not prevented Beijing's pragmatic leadership from adopting peaceful offense as the most desirable approach for national reunification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]