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Washington's Taiwan policy has been a controversial issue for U.S. policymakers and politicians for decades. At the core of the Taiwan issue is the question of establishing sovereignty. However, there is no "silver bullet" for resolving cross-Strait issues, especially the issue of Taiwan's sovereignty. This paper first presents a chronological review of the components of the U.S. government's "one-China policy" and then examines a definitional problem found in the debate on sovereignty and its implications for Taiwan's sovereignty. A preliminary assessment will be made of the US. perception of Taiwan's sovereignty by analyzing key documents and interviews which have been conducted in Washington. This paper will then conclude with a discussion of some of the implications for the future of cross-Strait relations. Iris argued that for the United States, Taiwan's sovereignty is defined as "one policy, three sovereignties, and five perceptions." The United States is reluctant to define Taiwan's sovereignty, and as interviews conducted in Washington indicate, Taiwan's status is clearly unsettled. The United States challenges neither the Republic of China's (ROC) governance of Taiwan, nor Beijing's position on Taiwan's sovereignty. In brief the United States does not take sides on this issue, but is still bound to a certain degree by its domestic law, the Taiwan Relations Act. The United States' foremost concern is to strike a delicate balance between helping Taiwan to practice its consent, while at same time not violating its own national interests (which implies avoiding a military confrontation with China). This clearly takes precedence over getting involved in defining Taiwan's sovereignty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the development of Taiwan's security policy by exploring the decision-making of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government under the leadership of President Chen Shui-bian from 2000 to 2004. The first part of the paper reviews the development of Taiwan-China relations and theoretical developments related to this subject, as well as the major theoretical approaches adopted by scholars and strategic analysts, to explain the influence of Taiwan-China relations on Taiwan's security. Next the paper attempts to define the structure and process of the security policymaking mechanism during Chen's government to identify the major "players" in the decision-making process and their roles. The last part of the paper examines the development of the referendum issue before the 2004 presidential election in order to show how President Chen's decision-making style affected the decision to how the controversial referendum in March 2004, and how such a decision-making mechanism makes a foreign policy crisis inevitable. This paper finds that President Chen and his DPP government have a top-down decision-making style in which the president is supreme in deciding foreign policy objectives. Limited numbers of high-ranking officials are consulted or involved in the formulation of key policy objectives. This decision-making style often leads to poor communication between different decision-making levels and sometimes misunderstandings among government agencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is motivated by three ideas. First, analyses of interstate relations have over-emphasized the role of hard power (especially military capabilities) to the relative neglect of soft power (including the important role played by economic statecraft). Second, these analyses have privileged the role of the state while not giving civil society (in the case of this paper business interests) sufficient attention. Evolving relations between the state and civil society influence the feasibility and success of economic statecraft. And third, economic carrots and sticks are two sides of the same coin, and their effects are in part contingent on the alignment of domestic interests and influence. I pursue these ideas in the context of Taiwan-China-U.S. economic relations, offering general heuristics and selective reference to the pertinent literature. After a short introduction, the discussion proceeds to treat (1) the double-edged nature of economic intercourse, (2) relative bargaining power, (3) vulnerability to economic holdup, (4) cross-border signaling, and (5) evolving domestic interests and influence. The paper's conclusion returns to the thesis that carrots and sticks are two sides of the same coin when states engage in economic exchanges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the social reconstruction of Taiwan's identity since 2000, when Chen Shui-bian and the Democratic progressive Party won the presidential election. It will address the Chen Shui-bian regime's policies of identity reconstruction in a series of political issues (e.g., the rewriting of history text and language policy) to generate collective action from the public, the resistance from opponents, and the intriguing relationship between identity and ethnicity. Finally, the paper will draw assessments and implications for the future of Taiwan's political development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper applies the "strategic triangle" approach to the relations among Washington. Beijing, and Taipei in the post-Cold War period. The main argument is that the strategic triangle among the three has been gradually shifting from a "romantic triangle" with the United States playing the role of an "unwilling pivot," to a "marriage" between the United States and Taiwan--although whether that status can be sustained remains to be seen. The cause of this shift is mainly structural: an unwilling pivot tends to tilt toward the weaker of the two wings, particularly when the stronger wing is emerging as a threat. In making this argument, the paper draws a historical analogy with the Berlin-St. Petersburg-Vienna triangle between 1870 and 1914. In that triangle, the unwilling pivot, Germany, first adopted an impartial attitude toward Russia and dustria-Hungary. As the duel between St. Petersburg and Vienna intensified over the Balkans, however, Germany was forced to take sides and bind its fate with the Hapsburg Empire. A comparison of the two triangles--including their modes of entry., operation, and exit--reveals a strong tendency in the Washington-Beijing-Taipei triangle to evolve following the historical pattern of the pre-WWI Berlin-St. Petersburg-Henna triangle. Based on this comparison, we can conclude an unwilling pivot should find that the costs associated with pivot playing are likely too high, and entry into a partnership with one of the wings is deemed more favorable. It remains to be seen whether a formal marriage will come about between the United States and Taiwan, as it did between Germany and Austria-Hungary prior to WWI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the availability of many comprehensive electronic databases, online research has become an indispensable part of scholarly pursuit, and is also an advantageous skill for researchers in most social science fields. This paper provides an overview of many useful websites and databases of use to researchers interested in Taiwan-U.S.-China relations. Web resources catalogued here were chosen based on their comprehensiveness, user-friendliness, and pertinence to the topic. These online research sources are categorized by data source: think tanks and professional associations, government sources, journal articles and conference papers, newspapers, news agencies and collections, reference materials, and online bookstores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the study of Taiwan politics in the field of public administration, focusing on the concurrence of two reforms: democratization and new public management (NPM). The most vehement criticism against NPM has been voiced by the advocates of substantial democracy. They believe that, by encouraging individuals to pursue maximized self-interest, this efficiency-oriented movement only serves to attenuate the moral dimensions of democratic life, leaving underdeveloped such values as social justice, equality, social solidarity, and public-spirited participation. Such an observation leads to the following intellectual curiosity: what would happen if one country were to go through both democratization and NPM simultaneously, as is the case with many countries today? In an attempt to answer this question and to illustrate the dynamics between these two reforms, this paper examines Taiwan's history of administrative development. The findings challenge the common understanding that these two reforms are mutually incompatible. The main argument is that there is in fact a synergic interaction between the reforms during their initial phase. Because the NPM reforms actually advocate certain core values also shared by liberal democracies, and because NPM measures help fulfill certain political functions for regime transition, the two reforms actually reinforce each other early on in the process. Nevertheless, as democratization proceeds, such advanced goals as improving the quality of civil society and promoting grass-roots deliberation with regard to a collective future begin to be emphasized on the reform agenda. NPM at this later stage is found to impose challenges to further democratization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic relations between Taiwan and China have developed very rapidly due to strong business motivations in both societies. Taiwan's government worries that Beijing might exploit China's economic leverage by using economic sanctions to achieve political goals if asymmetric interdependence in China's favor emerges across the Strait. This paper seeks to answer two categories of questions: first, how large is China's actual and potential economic leverage over Taiwan in terms of imposing economic sanctions, and what conditions or factors would contribute to China's decision to exploit this economic leverage? Second, how vulnerable is Taiwan to any such imposition of economic sanctions, and what conditions or factors would contribute to the success or failure of these sanctions? This paper concludes that China has no economic leverage over Taiwan in terms of imposing economic sanctions and that Taiwan's vulnerability to such a scenario is almost nonexistent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the study of the Taiwanese labor movement, the prevailing consensus holds that democratization empowered the working class in Taiwan, while worker impact on democratization was minimal. While largely agreeing with this consensus, this paper seeks to offer some revisions by analyzing the rise of unionism in the China Petroleum Corporation (CPC). First, this paper argues that grass-roots militants played an important role in the making of autonomous unionism. Second, the worker activists themselves mediated the impact of democratization on unionism. Thanks to their workshop-level organizing, CPC workers cultivated a common anti-Kuomintang (KMT) outlook. This mentality served as a valuable mobilization framework for the union movement, building on the general resentment caused by KMT clientelism in the CPC. Third, the rise of autonomous unionism helped to clear away the KMT's authoritarian infrastructure within the CPC. Therefore, workers certainly made their contribution to democratization, no matter how local and indirect it might have been. This paper closes by putting these findings in a boarder perspective and suggesting directions for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the emerging discourse on, and capability of the PRC in, information warfare (IW)--as well as the implications of such developments for cross-Strait and U.S.-PRC relations. Chinese discourse shows that informed PLA officers realize that IW constitutes the war of the future and plays a critical role in the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) ---a key step necessary for China's military modernization. One allure of this type of warfare is the potential for China to wage an "asymmetric war" --i.e., the use of surprise force by a weaker party against a stronger but vulnerable adversary--by applying traditional stratagems. The Chinese argue that using such traditional maxims as Sun Tzu's "overcoming the superior with the inferior" and Mao Zedong's "people's war" in modern warfare would both counter overall American strengths by focusing on certain "pockets of excellence" and present China with a credible military option for achieving its political objective of unification with Taiwan (on Beijing's terms). These strategic considerations could, however, introduce instability into the Taiwan Strait; they also challenge conventional wisdom in international relations. This paper critically evaluates the doctrinal-capability gap in China's 1W development--the double-edged nature of technology, the low connectivity of Chinese society, and Taiwan's responses--and concludes with a cautionary note on an emergent digital "mutual assured destruction" (MAD) dynamic across the Taiwan Strait. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between democracy and effectiveness. This survey of the local elite in Taiwan in two separate periods, 1993 and 2001, defines the term "effectiveness" as the local elites' evaluation of local effectiveness in dealing with serious problems facing the locality. After reviewing related theories and hypotheses and identifying various factors that might affect effectiveness, the paper divides these variables into two categories: factors both directly and indirectly related to democratization. Empirical testing finds that the local elite in Taiwan actually held a more positive evaluation of local effectiveness in the second wave than they did in the first. Through cross-analyses of each factor, increases in the local elites' positive evaluation of local effectiveness are found to be unrelated to factors of the first category. Among factors of the second category, only the variables of local elite position and self-evaluation of their influence are strongly related to local elites' evaluation of local effectiveness. This finding supports the hypothesis of this study: democracy and effectiveness are positively related. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The year 2001 marked the tenth anniversary of Taiwan's multiparty elections. The 1990 presidential election was the last contest under the old system. The National Assembly elections of 1991 and the forced retirement of the senior parliamentarians elected in mainland China marked the beginning of democratic elections that/or the first time had the potential to bring about a change in ruling party. Ten years time passed, offering us a timely opportunity to take stock of the developments in Taiwan's party politics. This paper endeavors to tackle the following five questions: (1) What theoretical framework can be employed to test the developments of Taiwan's political parties? (2) Do Taiwan's parties emphasize issues in electoral campaigns' (3) If hey do, which issues dominate the political agenda! (4) Do Taiwan's parties differ in the issues that they stress or "own"? (5) How has party issue emphasis changed over the 1990s? The paper analyzes party change via a content analysis of newspaper advertisements for one month prior to each major election between 1991 and 2000. The coding scheme employed is a revised version of that developed by the Manifesto Research Group (MRG). The results show that, generally speaking, although candidates are heavily stressed in elections, Taiwan's parties also pay considerable attention to issues. The data is supportive of issue ownership theory, as parties stress favorable issues and ignore or treat perfunctorily unfavorable issues. There has been a degree of movement and convergence on certain issues such as Taiwan independence. On care issues, however, movement has only taken place within ideologically delimited areas, and leapfrogging on core dimensions has either not taken place or been a rare occurrence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how PRC domestic politics constrains and influences China's Taiwan policy, and thus indirectly affects cross-Strait relations. Specifically, this paper examines six factors: (1) collective leadership and factionalism, (2) succession politics, (3) bureaucratic competition, (4) nationalism, (5) legitimacy crisis and political reform, and (6) central-local and central-minority relations. The impact of these six factors is multiple. In genera4 they constitute tremendous constraints for any PRC leadership seeking to change the existing policy line. From the perspective of the policymaking process, a lack of a transparent, stable, and predictable political structure and policymaking process does not allow the regime in general, and individual leaders in particular much room to take political risks or enjoy flexibility in dealing with Taiwan. From the perspective of the structural characteristic of the whole nation, internally the PRC holds a strong feeling of insecurity in regard to national integrity-i.e., has a vulnerable legitimacy base. Externally speaking, China also suffers from deep frustration in her pursuit of international status, which in turn fuels a strong nationalism. There is thus a strong hawkish bias in the PRC's Taiwan policy that derives from domestic political factors. In determining whether or not a "Taiwan threat" exists, this paper thus argues that more attention should be paid to the opportunities and challenges presented or imposed by the structural constraints and dynamics of FRC domestic politics. The Impact of the PRC's Domestic Politics on Cross-Strait Relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes Taiwan's stability from an economic perspective. It first discusses challenges to Taiwan r economy, with particular focus on the influence of China's economic rise. In recent years, the PRC's policy toward Taiwan has been to contain and isolate Taiwan politically in the international community while at the same time striving to attract Taiwan s capital and technology by means of the mainland's economic strength. Almost all East Asian countries, including Taiwan, have felt enormous pressure from China. The paper also examines whether Taiwan s economy has the wherewithal to weather this economic storm and avoid any political or social instability that could be caused by economic depression. The argument is that although Taiwan's economic performance has not been outstanding in recent years, long-term depression in Taiwan is unlikely. As the global economy recovers, so should Taiwan's fortunes. However to ensure Taiwan's economic security and maintain strong international competitiveness in the long term, Taiwan should follow the overall principle of "consolidating the island's original equipment manufacturer (OEM) base, creating indigenous brands, and expanding niches." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the industrial transformation processes of the LCD (liquid-crystal display) and footwear industries in South Korea and Taiwan by situating the state, local capital and transnational capital on an equal footing and examining the relative strength of these actors across time. To understand the interplay of the three actors and their shifting balance of power, we follow the commodity chain perspective and define industrial transformation as a process of moving to a higher value-added chain in the global production network. The paper argues that statist arguments that privilege the role of the state vis-à-vis transnational and local capital in the process of industrial transformation need to be modified in order to incorporate a dynamic and changing power balance among the three actors, especially in the current context of globalization and liberalization in world economic activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taiwan's financial institutions, like their counterparts in other East Asian countries in recent years, have been bogged down by bad loans, deteriorating asset quality, and mismanagement. Government efforts to reform the financial system are at best piecemeal. This paper analyzes the political, social, and economic context of Taiwan's local financial institutions, a body whose problems are symptomatic of the general banking sector in Taiwan. The paper finds that Taiwan's local financial institutions are deeply embedded in the Kuomintang (KMT)-centered political economy, and are thus not easily subject to large-scale reforms. The ascension to power by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) since the 2000 presidential elections should pave the way for more serious reforms. Difficulties still abound, however. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The family is an important agent of political socialization. Parents are undoubtedly the primary source of a child's political learning. Political values, like genes, are transmitted from parents to children. Not only do individuals acquire political values and attitudes from their parents, but at the same time the political system is also sustained and developed. This paper investigates the content of political attitudes and values that elementary school students acquire in the socialization environment of the family, measures the extent of correspondence in parent-child political attitudes and values, and examines aspects of family structure which conceivably affect transmission flows. The preliminary findings of this paper are that elementary school students in Taiwan already possess attitudes regarding the political world. The rate of parent-child agreement, measured in eleven sets of variables reflecting political attitudes and values, ranged from 22.87 percent to 56.93 percent--of which only one set was less than 30 percent. In regard to the correlation of correspondence, the chi-square test of national identity, national loyalty, and party preference all held statistical significance. With the exception of majority rule and sense of political efficacy (which both had less correlation of agreement), the other six sets of variables of democratic attitudes and values all held at least a 0.05 tau-b coefficient. Additionally, in comparing the six familial socialization factors of correspondence in parent-child political attitudes and values, we find that the familial politicization factor was the most influential socialization factor. In total, out of forty-eight tau-b correlation coefficient tests of eight sets of variables of democratic values and attitudes, there are thirty-nine tests that had statistical relations with tau-b coefficient above 0.05. Therefore, this research demonstrates that in the political learning of children in Taiwan, political attitudes and values are indeed transmitted from parents to children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the interrelationship between the central and local governments in Taiwan, with particular reference to the period after the 1996 decision to downsize the Taiwan Provincial Government. The paper argues that in the wake of the 1996 decision, while relations between the different levels of government in Taiwan have become confused, the contemporary state of intergovernmental relations is not entirely without order. In order to shed some light on the development of contemporary intergovernmental relations in Taiwan, this paper refers to three main theoretical approaches: the bounded rationality, incrementalism, and "garbage can" models. The paper also refers to documentary analysis combined with a survey of relevant government officials. These are used to explain the contemporary pattern of relations between the different levels of Taiwan's government. In conclusion, the paper argues that leadership is the key factor shaping the patterns of interaction among different levels of government in Taiwan today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taiwan (the Republic of China, ROC) adopted a semi-presidential system in the 1997 constitutional reform. That system is now being put to the test through the transfer of power from the Kuomintang (KMT) to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) given that the DPP won the 2000 presidential elections. This paper first develops a theoretical framework to analyze political stability under different types of semi-presidential systems. Three factors are singled out as the most critical: presidential power (high or low), president-parliament relations (congruent or incongruent), and party system (biparty or multiparty). Following is a look into Taiwan's institutional background and its process of constitutional reform. We discover that after the inauguration of President Chen Shui-bian, Taiwan fell into a highly unfavorable situation, with a low stability rating. The second part of the paper focuses on the interaction mode between the president and the parliament which is characterized by incongruent relations. Four empirical cases are used to demonstrate the four interaction modes under incongruence: the French Fifth Republic ("cohabitation"), Finland ("division of labor"), Weimar Germany ("collision"), and the Russian Federation ("supremacy of the president'). The Chen (Shui-bian)-Tang (Fei) duarchy is closer to the Finnish "division of labor "system than to any other interaction mode, but with less presidential concessions. This setup is clearly a compromise rather than cohabitation. As such, the Chen-Tang system is useful in defusing parliamentary opposition in the short term, but is conflict-prone in nature, as born out by its ultimate collapse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Whether democracy can be consolidated in a newly democratized country depends on whether its citizens respect democracy. Through a study of political socialization in Taiwan, this paper will examine whether the political attitudes and values of Taiwan students can cope with the needs of a democratic system and thus whether Taiwan's democratization can be further enhanced. Based on survey data gathered from two research projects commissioned in 1993 and 1997 by the National Science Council on the political socialization of Taiwan students, this paper analyzes their attitudes and values on fourteen predictive variables on democracy to see whether they possess the qualifications for democratic citizenship. Our study indicates that political socialization in Taiwan, especially via the educational process, should help enhance those attributes required of a good "subject," including a strong national consciousness, the feeling of nationhood, and fulfillment of civic duties. More importantly, socialization is also helping them to possess such attributes required of a good "citizen" as civic knowledge, political efficacy, participation ability, and political identity achievement. Therefore, the cultivation of qualified democratic citizens is still important for the consolidation of Taiwan's democratization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the making of both the ROC's mainland policy and the PRC's Taiwan policy over the past two decades. It shows that the making of the PRC's Taiwan policy can be accounted for by a pure Rational Actor Model. In contrast, although the policymaking process in the ROC under the reign of President Chiang Ching-kuo was also close to the Rational Actor Alodel, at present it resembles the Bureaucratic Politics Model. This paper argues that the solution of the game is quite clear-cut in the case of the PRC; less so in Chiang's ROC: and in the case of Taiwan after Lee Teng-hui came to power, there was originally an equilibrium (i.e., the median voter in all directions), but such an equilibrium has become disrupted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews some of the key issues in recent U.S.-China trade relations and outlines the macro environment for trade between the two, including their economic ties with Hong Kong and Taiwan. It first provides an overview of U. S. - China trade, including a description of historical trends, industry distribution, and the involvement of Hong Kong and Taiwan. The major sources of foreign direct investment in China are also discussed. The paper then goes on to discuss current key issues in U.S. - China trade, including China's application to the World Trade Organization (WTO), China's most-favored-nation (MFN) status, intellectual property rights protection, and the mounting U.S. trade deficit with China. The impact of these issues on Taiwan and Hong Kong is highlighted where appropriate. The paper also discusses briefly the future prospects of U.S. - China trade and related opportunities for Taiwanese firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the "complex interdependence" model to explain Taiwan's diplomatic moves in the Asia-Pacific. According to Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye, complex interdependence includes three characteristics: multiple channels of contact, an absence of hierarchy among issues, and the minor role of military force. Although the minor role of military force is nor entirely relevant in the Asia-Pacific, the other two variables have become important strategies for Taiwan in expanding the island's foreign relations. This paper argues that the main reason for Taiwan's survival despite being under the shadow of the PRC threat is because the island's foreign relations, especially in the post-Cold War era, are in harmony with the development of complex interdependence in the Asia-Pacific. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper first analyzes Taiwan-mainland China relations in the context of PRC President Jiang Zemin's eight-point proposal on the unification issue and ROC President Lee Teng-hui's six-point response in early 1995. Next, the paper discusses Lee's visit to the United States in June 1995 and the PRC's violent reaction to the visit, which resulted in the PRC's military exercises in the Taiwan Strait, its public denunciation of Lee, and the suspension of the talks between the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF-ROC) and the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS-PRC). Since Lee's landslide presidential election victory in Taiwan, he has repeatedly called on the PRC to resume talks, but the PRC has refused to respond positively to the calls, and Taiwan-mainland China relations remain uncertain and volatile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of the "strategic triangle" has been conventionally applied to the relationship among the United States, the Soviet Union, and the People's Republic of China (PRC). In actuality, there has also existed a mini-triangle among Washington, Taipei, and Beijing. The first part of this paper explores the various positions in a strategic triangle, ranks these roles in terms of desirability, differentiates between endogenous and exogenous factors, and identifies three sets of derivative relations based on exogenous factors. The paper then reviews the historical patterns of interactions within the great strategic triangle and the mini-triangle, as well as explores the impact of the former on the latter. The third part concentrates on the post-Tiananmen permutations of the dual triangles, evaluates the PRC's position after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and explains U.S. behavior during the 1995-96 Taiwan Strait mini-crisis in view of the structure of the mini-triangle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the end of the Cold War, some students of international politics have believed that "history has ended," while others have stated that the more things change, the more they stay the same. These two schools of thought-roughly, liberalism and realism-are the two main conceptual frameworks by which East Asian security is analyzed. This paper first examines East Asian security from these two perspectives. It then analyzes the security stances of the PRC and the United States, the two major powers in East Asia, arguing that the PRC's reading of East Asian international politics is leaning toward a realist interpretation, while the United States is leaning toward a somewhat liberal one. Since Taiwan is a hot point in Sino-American relations, this paper furl her probes Taiwan's role in East Asian security. It finds that Taiwan's drive for international recognition, while largely propelled by its internal democratization process, will continue to drive a wedge into Sino-American relations, which will have tremendous repercussions in the East Asian security situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I have introduced two simple extensive-form games and conducted the Poisson regression analysis to investigate the important factors that might influence Sino-South Korean relations. One of the most interesting questions examined in the paper is the People's Republic of China's (PRC's) behavior toward South Korea in case of any change in South Korea-Taiwan relations. The findings of the analysis have indicated that any incremental change in South Korea-Taiwan relations will not influence the PRC's behavior toward South Korea as long as South Korea maintains friendly relations with the PRC. This study suggests that South Korea should maintain the highest possible unofficial relations with Taiwan as long as it does not violate the "one China" principle. Strategically speaking, South Korean policies toward China or Taiwan should not be based on Beijing's verbal expressions or threats but on how Beijing has actually responded to similar situations. That is, it is most important for South Korea to investigate where the PRC actually stands or how the PRC has responded to other nations which have attempted to improve relations with Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A general theory of strategy allows scholars to explain or predict national strategies based on certain stable social characteristics. The interactions between national values and national strategy is tested here on a case study of the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan. The first part of the paper concerns itself with the identification of the ROC's national values. Taiwanese society is deemed to have materialism and individualism as national values. Accordingly, the theory predicts that Taiwan will adopt a direct strategy of action. An examination of the historical record of the ROC on Taiwan under the process of de-Chiangization takes up the first part of the paper. The second half of the paper concerns itself with empirical investigation of the hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how the Republic of China (ROC) uses economic-related techniques to achieve its foreign policy goals as well as factors that affect the ROC's efforts. The paper's central contention is that the effectiveness of economic diplomacy depends not only on wealth but also on the global environment and the capacity of the Taipei government to negotiate and compromise. In the future, as the ROC's economic leverage decreases and the PRC's sensitivity increases, the Taipei government will need all the statesmanship and leadership at its disposal if it is to employ its economic diplomacy effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assumes that in Taipei's foreign aid policymaking, political and economic motivations are intermingled. As an instrument of foreign policy, the ROC's foreign aid program has been utilized to accomplish its Southward policy. This paper discusses the economic assistance that Taiwan has provided to the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia, which are also the main focus of the ROC's Southward policy. The mixture of political and economic motivations in the aid given by the International Economic Cooperation Development Fund (IECDF) to these three Southeast Asian countries has also exemplified the ROC's recent internal and external dilemmas. From a regional perspective, the ROC's Southward policy and its economic assistance to these Southeast Asian countries present the first concrete step in its involvement in the process of economic integration in the Asia-Pacific region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Margaret Keck and Kathryn Sikkink formulated the concept of a transnational advocacy network (TAN) as a tight-knit community of transnational nongovernmental individuals with shared beliefs and identities, they did not go on to trace the dynamics of the development of such a network. This paper claims that "shared values" is an insufficient explanation for network-building. It further expands on the analytical framework for the development of a TAN by discussing the following three main themes: (1) the political opportunity that catalyzes the emergence of the activists; (2) the network "glue" that facilitates cohesion and closeness in the TAN; and (3) the network organization that defines the participation and problems related to role distribution with respect to the activists in the TAN. This study examines the case of the anti-Yasukuni TAN comprising activists from Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan, and finds that the TAN was transformed in terms of its function and strategy as activists of different national origins joined it. From the evidence gleaned from structured interviews, it was found that activists from Taiwan instilled the TAN with a revolutionary character that facilitated the mobilization of wider social support. Ambitious activists from South Korea then added a greater international dimension to the TAN. Although the groups from Taiwan and South Korea tended to accelerate the development of the TAN and diversify it, the Japanese group reminded the developing TAN of its original target. Thus, a TAN is afar more complex entity with a mixture of multinational and cultural attributes rather than a simple and steady network formed by transnational actors with shared beliefs, as Keck and Sikkink have posited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to develop the context for Taiwanese economic statecraft based on the evolving paths of economic integration within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the less obvious market-driven and complex changes in business supply chains. Taken together the effects of economic statecraft, trade patterns, and investment constitute a "noodle bowl" with many unintended consequences. The effect is to undermine particular policies and initiatives and make the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) much more porous than its policies suggest. The many inconsistencies between policies and effects should be seen as providing an opportunity for Taiwan to continue its dynamic role in Asian markets and to avoid isolation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers an institutional account of how President Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan has sent important messages across the Taiwan Strait. Under Taiwan's constitutional system, the parliament can neither hold the president accountable for what he says nor sack the premier appointed by the president, while a president who lacks legislative support also finds it hard to put his policy goals into practice. These problems give President Chen the excuse to set up extra-constitutional channels to deliver pro-independence messages, some of which go against his official pledges. Here, a collection of Chen's important remarks directed across the Taiwan Strait are analyzed, and a consistent pattern is revealed of when and where he is likely to say what. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role the United States has played in the maintenance of the status quo across the Taiwan Strait from a constructivist/institutionalist perspective. My research questions are: In what way has the United States helped preserve peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait? And in the process, how has the United States reproduced the status quo arrangement to shape the interests of Beijing and Taipei? It is maintained that a status quo arrangement has developed across the Strait which the United States has helped to construct and which is supported to varying degrees by Beijing and Taipei. This status quo institution has been created and reinforced through direct codification as well through an indirect process of structuration. The three Washington-Beijing joint communiqués and the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) form the first stage of institutional development through formal codification which emphasizes the use of peaceful means on both sides for the final resolution of the situation. Since the late 1990s, the construction and reproduction of the status quo arrangement, which generally follows a pattern of "neither use of force nor de jure independence," has been undertaken primarily through policy statements or actions. These policy statements normally uphold such supreme values as "prosperity," "stability," or "peace." They also help sustain the regulative, normative, or cognitive pillars of the status quo institution through the strategies of stigmatization, role conferment, or internalization. The main purpose of the status quo institution, instantiated by repeated policy statements or actions, is to shape the policy discourses, preferences, and interests of Beijing and Taipei. Although Beijing and Taipei are not merely passive and sometimes seek to test the rules or promote alternative norms, this behavior has not been sustained. If they have taken action, it has often been rationalized to ensure that the core values were not directly challenged. As such, it is concluded that the construction and reproduction of the status quo institution has been considerably effective so far, if not completely successful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trade and investment relations between Taiwan and China have been more noticeable for their impacts on Taiwan than on China in both economic and security terms. Instead of discussing the political and military consequences of this asymmetrical economic interdependence, this paper suggests an analytical framework for exploring the effects of the externalities of cross-Strait market forces on Taiwan's security from a nontraditional security perspective. Economic factors, independent from traditional security notions, are vital to Taiwan's international survival and domestic stability. Vulnerabilities and concerns arising from cross-Strait de facto economic networks are the externalities to the basic source of Taiwan's international expansion, leverage over the geoeconomic order, and the state's capacity to manage internal cohesion. In conclusion, the transnational nature of nontraditional security issues and the relevance of cross-Strait economic ties to China's economic security suggest the possibility of more interest-based responses to the identified concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the factors that have influenced the effectiveness of Taiwanese American grassroots lobbies on Capitol Hill through a case study of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA), a notable non-state actor that has been actively advancing Taiwanese interests in the United States since 1982. I undertake a comparative analysis of FAPA's five campaigns: its request to the Taiwan government to lift its blacklist policy, its urging of the U.S. government to allow Taiwanese Americans to state "Taiwan" as their place of birth on their U.S. passports, its promotion of Taiwan's participation in the Worm Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations, and its campaign in favor of the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act (TSEA) in 2000. The direct result of this analysis indicates that FAPA's success does not solely lie in its ability to find a champion in Congress, or to win the U.S. president's support. Equally important is the nature of the issues that FAPA campaigns bring up. If an issue resonates or is compatible with the preexisting collective identities and beliefs of the actors it affects, it is more likely to be pushed through in the legislature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing economic engagement together with persistent political confrontation make today's cross-Strait relations a very unique case in the study of international politics. Guided by the theory of integration, many scholars strive to figure out the political consequences of these economic transactions. However, the transactions themselves are not free flows of capital and resources: they have been strictly regulated by the government of Taiwan and those regulating policies have to be approved by the Taiwanese electorate in the end. What, then, are the factors shaping public opinion in Taiwan concerning whether the ban on cross-Strait exchanges should be lifted? h7 this paper, the authors will answer this question by testing three related hypotheses: one stresses the effects of material interests (the "sense" thesis), another political identity (the "sensitivity" thesis), and still another information and knowledge concerning the issues (the "sophistication" thesis). Employing logit models and grounded on the "2005 Survey on Cross-Strait Relations and Taiwan's National Security" (sponsored by the Center for Asian-Pacific Security of Duke University), we find that the respondents' positions on loosening or tightening cross-Strait trade are largely determined by sensitivity aspects rather than sense and sophistication dimensions. This finding agrees with the idea of neo-functionalism, that politics maintains firm control over economic transactions, which presumably weakens the autonomy of politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a conceptualization of cross-Strait relations during the first decade of the twenty-first century. In particular, it traces the path by which the Bush administration came to play a balancing role in cross-Strait relations. As will be seen, there is more than a little irony about the current state of cross-Strait relations. First, the Bush administration's policy toward the conflict between China and Taiwan has been measured and primarily reactive, in contrast to its aggressive initiatives elsewhere, suggesting a policy of "muddling through." Second, President George W. Bush has evidently become upset with President Chen Shui-bian on several occasions for acting like, well, President Bush: appealing to his base constituency and being "bold" in foreign affairs. Finally and more analytically, a policy of muddling through (which can be discerned in Beijing and Taipei as well as in Washington) does not imply very good policymaking, especially in such a vital area as the relations between Taiwan and China. Yet, at least so far, muddling through seems to have worked tolerably well in the sense that crises in cross-Strait relations have been defused and that they now appear fairly stable, despite the fundamental disagreement between Beijing and Taipei over Taiwan's sovereignty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In designing democratic institutions, it is imperative that we take into consideration both the constitutional form of government and the electoral system. On paper, Taiwan's institutional arrangement, essentially parliamentary coupled with a semi-proportional electoral system, resembles that found in many Continental European countries. This is generally sound except that the electoral system (i.e., the single nontransferable vote), albeit with certain merits, contains some truly undesirable features that need to be corrected Proportional representation with a relatively high threshold to eliminate minuscule parties is preferable. Nonetheless, the actual practice in Taiwan--presidentialism plus a relatively proportional electoral system--looks more like the institutional arrangement seen in Latin America, which is not a good choice. The easiest way of changing it and moving it back to the Continental European type of system is to close the loophole by reinstituting an investiture vote for the premier-designate by the Legislative Yuan. It is important that the constitutional practice should not deviate too much from the logic of the constitutional arrangement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In April 1993, President Lee Teng-hui of Taiwan announced his bid to join the United Nations, the "participate in the U.N. "policy. In this paper I explain why Lee launched this policy and how it was formulated. Contrary to the structural realists' claim that state actions are steered by the structure of the international system, I argue that the momentum of the "participate in the U.N. "policy lay in Taiwanese domestic politics. More specifically, the policy was mainly a product of Taiwan's party politics, while its formulation was closely associated with the internal politics of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As staunch believers of the "greater Chinese nationalism," many mainlanders in Taiwan have identified themselves as "Chinese" in both an ethnic and political sense. They have also considered Taiwan to be apart of China and the island's eventual unification with the Chinese mainland as desirable. The rapid democratization of the early 1990s and the victory of the pro-independence Chen Shui-bian in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections sensitized the island residents' choice of identity as Taiwanese or Chinese and their policy preference on the issue of Taiwan independence. How have the mainlanders on the island responded to these political changes? How can these responses, if any, be explained? And, how have changes in mainlanders' identity affected their policy preferences regarding Taiwan's future relations with China? Utilizing nine sets of survey data collected through personal interviews in Taiwan, this paper shows that mainlanders have been increasingly acculturated and are shifting away from a Chinese identity to a dual Chinese-Taiwanese identity. This progressive change of identity has led many mainlanders to be more supportive of Taiwan independence or maintaining the status quo while adopting an indeterminate position on the island's future relations with China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to explain the domestic political functions of Taiwan's 2004 "defensive referendum" by outlining the referendum's value as a strategic campaign ploy in Taiwan's high-level elections. The way the referendum was used draws on tried and successful campaigning methods in Taiwan: mobilizing mass rallies to create the impression of strength; demands by politicians that supporters visibly display loyalty/support; and the instrumental use of almost any means that is deemed beneficial to election success. The article argues that these campaigning techniques embodied in the referendum strategy can be understood as a form of "zaoshi." Such instrumental use of the referendum as a means of mobilizing supporters--rather than as an aide to policymaking--helps demonstrate that Taiwan, as a society with open political contest, still lacks adequate procedural principles and established conventions for political behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A common assumption is that regional disparities affect voting behavior in Taiwan, given the fact that voters in the south show steady support for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). The common sense premise is that the south provides a stable support base for the DPP. Although a pattern of political clustering appears to be taking shape, empirical data are required to test this hypothesis. The findings of this paper suggest that, first, regional factors are contingent on the influences of election type and the personal attributes of individual candidates. Second, above and beyond what appears commonsensical, the Kuomintang (KMT) shows greater regional disparities with respect to its support base than does the DPP. This article proposes that party realignment has significantly affected the KMT's support base and has particularly influenced it in the non-southern area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a historical overview and theoretical interpretation of the issue of national identity in Taiwan. The author demonstrates how the idea of "orthodoxy" in the dynastic tradition has shaped various projects of Chinese nationalism in the twentieth century. Taiwan has surpassed this dynastic mind-set by transforming cultural nationalism into civic nationalism. Taiwan's new political order, which is centered on popular elections of the president, is interpreted as the institutionalization of plebiscites which has forged a new national identity. Theoretical reflection on the relationship between the civic nationalism of Taiwan and tile cultural nationalism of China is also provided. The author contends that a mode of heterocentric self-understanding is needed to resolve the ideological conflict between China and Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direct flights across the Taiwan Strait have been the hottest issue in cross-Strait relations since the 1980s. Although Taiwan's policy toward direct flights is not yet clear, many believe that the entry of both sides into the World Trade Organization (WTO) will speed up the flight schedule process. There are, however, some technical problems to be solved before the airlines at either side can operate nonstop flights across the Strait. One critical issue regards the striking of a bilateral agreement between China and Taiwan. If both sides agree to negotiate such an official document, serious political and economic conflicts would likely occur as soon as negotiations are begun. This paper discusses the history of air transportation services among Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China. Past and new agreements are examined, their impacts and possible influences on the regional markets are analyzed, and both the business and political considerations related to these agreements are explored. Given the experiences of both past and existing agreements, the format as well as the content of any cross-Strait bilateral agreement would need to be carefully constructed in order to be acceptable to both sides. The possibility of a multilateral agreement within these states and zones, and the resulting impacts on this area will also be examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the political significance of the attitudes of the people on Taiwan toward unification and independence, drawing implications for cross-Strait relations. The opinion pattern displayed by the people of Taiwan on the independence/unification issue appears on the surface to remain stable over time. Classifying people according to the underlying forces that affect their attitudes on the issue, however reveals that the number of people taking a rational approach—i.e., basing their decisions on the direction of the changing environment—has increased. At the same time, the number of respondents affectively supporting unification has decreased while those affectively supporting independence have increased. These evolving opinion patterns set the boundaries for Taiwan's cross- Strait policies and national identity issues. This article discusses the political implications that these attitudes have for domestic politics as well as cross-Strait relations. [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 makes an attempt to explore the scientific landscape on Taiwan. Through bibliometric citation analysis and mapping techniques the main actors at the university level are identified and the structure of the national research and development (R&D) system is described with respect to article production and publication patterns. Special attention is paid to patterns of research collaboration, nationally as well as internationally. This paper concludes that Taiwan is well integrated in the international scientific macro-networks. However, the findings do not give support to the idea that Asian science and scientific thinking would differ from Western science; on the contrary, Taiwan has developed quickly into a science nation of significance by adapting Western scientific traditions and becoming integrated in international scientific networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]