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The People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC) (Taiwan) have taken divergent paths in the area of human rights. Since the two leaders Xi Jinping and Tsai Ing-wen came to power, the differences in the area of human rights have further increased. The paper analyses and compares their external human rights strategies based on realist assumptions and the soft and hard power resources of the PRC and the ROC. The PRC's objectives are to deflect international criticism of its human rights situation and to weaken the global human rights system and its underlying human rights norms. Taiwan's objective is to use its record as a human rights leader in Asia to expand its limited international space and to strengthen its ties with other consolidated democracies and the global civil society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines Taiwan's perspective on its participation in the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 1949 to 1972, during which period the Republic of China (ROC) government came to Taiwan (1949) and Avery Brundage, an American, served as the IOC President (from 1952 to 1972). Although the international situation was relatively favourable for the ROC in Taiwan during this period, the country was asked to change the name of the Olympic Committee in Taiwan. This article discusses the naming issue by analysing the content of the IOC sessions and changing international politics. Sources, including correspondence between the IOC and the Olympic Committee of the Republic of China, executive board minutes, and IOC bulletins, were gathered from the IOC archives. In addition, through the correspondence between the IOC and the Olympic Committee of the Republic of China, this paper shows why the Olympic Committee was reluctant to be called the Taiwan Olympic Committee. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a tendency in the study of modern Chinese history to seek uniqueness in the history of modern China while attempting to identify differences from some presumed universality. However, modern Chinese history research that emphasizes uniqueness is likely to be used to create a negative image of China in the minds of the Japanese general public, given that China has become a major power and Sino-Japan relations have become unstable in the 21st century. As China is becoming a major power and an increasing global presence, the Japanese view that China is becoming distanced from universals and is instead becoming something entirely different from the "norm" is likely to amplify misunderstanding and prejudice regarding China. Therefore, we have to consider how to study the history of modern China. I believe it is only natural to study it based on the political problem that was the constant theme throughout the history of modern China. It is the history of constitutional government and revolution. From these two keywords, this paper reconsiders the universality and uniqueness of modern Chinese history, and also presents a new perspective on the relationship between China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes the growing human rights gap between China on one side and the US and Taiwan on the other side and analyses its impact on cross-strait relations. Since Xi Jinping's ascent to power in the People's Republic of China in 2012/2013 and the elections of Donald Trump in the US and Tsai Ing-wen in Taiwan in 2016, the relationship between China and the other two countries has worsened. The US and Taiwan have a similar view on human rights in the PRC. The increasing repression and authoritarianism of the PRC leads to a human rights gap in the Taiwan Strait that increases the divide and the tensions between both sides. The failure of the PRC to address in its proposal for a peaceful unification the concerns of the Taiwanese for their democracy and human rights pushes Taiwan further away. The similar assessment of the PRC's authoritarian threat by the US and Taiwan strengthens the bond between both, based on the shared values of democracy and human rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the past several decades, US policy toward China has fundamentally limited the policy options toward Taiwan. For several historical and practical reasons, mistrust of the United States remains relatively strong among the Taiwanese public. Skepticism about US intentions oscillates between fears of being abandoned and being entrapped. As Washington policymakers continue to debate Taiwan policy through the lens of US-China relations, most of the discussion focuses on how to deter China from attacking Taiwan; few are articulating the importance of reassuring Taiwan. This article sheds light on the Taiwanese sentiment toward the United States, specifically the source of mistrust of the United States, which would significantly affect the efficacy of any US policy. The intricate history of the United States and Taiwan suggests that a new and effective US policy toward Taiwan should include both credible military deterrence of China and a clear reassurance for Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differences in socioeconomic status have long been one of the major contributing factors to household educational investment, which is also a key concern in related research. Utilizing Panel Study of Family Dynamics (PSFD) datasets from 2003 to 2004, in this study we examine family investment in children's education in southeast China and Taiwan, two core economic players in east Asia, with mainland China presenting much more social inequality than Taiwan, based on Gini coefficient measures. Our findings reveal that the different levels of parental investment in education are consistent with socioeconomic disparities, which vary significantly both quantitatively and qualitatively among mainland Chinese families from diverse social class backgrounds, but this gap appears to be narrowing among households in Taiwan. Parents' level of education and income, deemed as the main class-based indicators, continue to be the determining factors in how families obtain and construct educational access, resources and opportunities for their offspring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2008, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan has increased rapidly. The Chinese government expects that the economic benefits brought to Taiwan by Chinese tourists could enable more Taiwanese to be willing to unify with mainland China. Our study focuses on whether such cross border tourism could help the Chinese government to achieve its political goal. Empirical results by Regression Discontinuity show that the independence–unification views that the majority of Taiwanese hold have not been influenced by the arrival of Chinese tourists. The increase in the number of Chinese tourists does not significantly affect the proportion of Taiwanese who support independence and who support maintaining the status quo. By contrast, it reduces the proportion of Taiwanese who support unification. It implies that cross border tourism may not be an effective means to achieve political goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 1950s and 1960s, the Republic of China on Taiwan (ROC) not only distrusted, but also feared, the People's Republic of China (PRC)'s assertion to be peace-loving. The reason was that the PRC used its peacefulness claim to negotiate whether the ROC or the PRC should represent 'China' in the United Nations, based on a specific definition of 'peacefulness' and on the socialist World Peace Movement as a platform of public diplomacy and international networking. This explains a function of the PRC's peacefulness claim in the Cold War and rewrites the chronology of the PRC's gradual United Nations entry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]