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This research paper seeks to examine the importance of the 2008 Olympic Games in regards to China's foreign policy options and subsequent future behavior, with particular emphasis placed on the Taiwan issue. The primary question addressed by this paper is whether or not China will use the 2008 Olympic Games as a means of demonstrating a responsible power identity. This paper asserts three hypotheses. First, China could forgo any gains to be made by hosting the Olympic Games and take defensive-oriented action against Taiwan as a means of protecting important national interests. Second, China could use the games as a propaganda tool and take offensive-action against Taiwan as a means of pursuing an expansionist agenda. Lastly, China could choose to take no action and use the Games to demonstrate a responsible power identity. These hypotheses are tested through three historical case studies: the Soviet Union's 1979 invasion of Afghanistan and the 1980 Moscow Games; the 1936 Berlin Games and the aggressive German expansion that began shortly thereafter; and the 1964 Tokyo Games and the 1988 Seoul Games in that both Japan and South Korea used the Games to build identities. This paper finds that although the third hypothesis is most preferable, certain factors might push China towards selecting an option closer to hypothesis one. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Linking domestic & international politics, this paper offers a model of "Four-Level Nested Games" approach to Taiwan problems. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Military threat was intensively used by China during Taiwan's presidential elections but is widely argued as counterproductive because it didn't prevent pro-independence candidates from winning the elections. To explain the logic of China's military threat and outcomes of the elections, this paper develops a formal framework in which China and the incumbent party has better information about the state of the world than voters and non-incumbent party. China's threat is interpreted as a way to transfer information to voters. Although she doesn't prevent the pro-independence party from being elected, China successfully prevents the winning party from declaring formal Taiwanese independence. In this way, China is always better off by issuing threats. In general, this paper not only attempts to improve our understanding of Taiwan Straight confrontation but also tries to shed new insight on the study of military threat in International Relations. It also offers a concrete game theoretic model to illustrate Putnam's two-level game metaphor. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Taiwan has increased its vote share in the past three legislative elections. Nevertheless, the 2004 and 2008 elections were widely viewed as major defeats for the party. Through an analysis of the DPP's performance in recent Legislative Yuan elections, this article considers the effects of electoral rules on election outcomes and the perception of those outcomes. In Taiwan, under both the previous Single Non-transferable Vote (SNTV) and the current Mixed Member Majoritarian (MMM) systems, the mechanical effect of how electoral rules translate votes into seats and the psychological impact this has on voter and party behavior have often dramatically influenced party electoral performance by causing vote and seat shares to diverge. This divergence also affects the perception of party electoral performance by causing outcomes not to meet expectations. In addition, this article analyzes the effects of recent changes to the electoral system in Taiwan and whether these changes structurally disadvantage the DPP. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past, international relation scholars analyze the interactions of states based on the theories of realism and idealism. Recently, scholars try to explain the reasons why there is conflict or cooperation in international society by reviewing the dimensions of concepts, ideas and culture which is so called constructivism. However, as the state boundaries fall away, the contact among states are getting closer. The subject those international relation theories explain has been shifted from states toward international regimes. Some scholars interpret the practice of these international regimes by applying regime theory. The emergence of international regimes not only means the coming era of globalization, but also stands for the difference between regime members and non regime members. In addition, many states believe that they would have higher status if they could join international regimes. Therefore, it is obvious that states look for any chance to become regime members. Since the withdrawal from the UN in 1971, Taiwan has been eager to join international regimes, especially those which require governmental representatives. However, due to the obstruction that Beijing government makes, Taiwan always fails to join international regimes. After striving for several years, Taiwan joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) which is one of the most important international economic regimes on January 1st 2002. As a member of WTO, when Taiwan does hard to fulfill its obligation, it is no doubt that Taiwan should possess equal status as other members and enjoy the interests that WTO brings to Taiwan. Yet, because China keeps protesting in WTO, it is not easy for Taiwan to carry out its duty and to perform as a good regime member. In WTO, the competition between Taiwan and China is everywhere and repeated. How Taiwan can find a way to solve this situation and how to protect its national interests by applying the institutional rules of WTO have become significant issues which should be taken seriously. Although the competing relation between Taipei and Beijing has not been better off after both became WTO members, in this research plan, we try to explore the possibility to see whether WTO could be a new arena where both members are able to cooperate in some issues. Furthermore, this papaer also wants to see if the economic interaction within WTO could help Taiwan and China restart dialogue in the near future. After the institutionalization and legalization, international regimes have gradually become the bridge among states. From internal perspective, regimes must defend their members’ interests, and solve the disputes and conflicts between members. Besides, international regimes have to play the role of the guard of international order from the external perspective. Furthermore, in small states’ point of view, how to interact with powerful states, gain maximum interests, and bring their influence into full play are those issues that they care about most. There is no common opinion in the international relation theories when seeing international regimes. However, even though the regime theory has developed since 1980s, it is still a question whether it is able to explain the interaction between Taiwan and China in international regimes. There might be something to be supplemented and needed more research and analysis. The core issues of my research plan are as follows: 1) the interaction between Taiwan and China within WTO: competition and cooperation; 2) what international relational theories and regime theory would say about the interaction between these two members in WTO: explanation and supplement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]