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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]

Being the second largest economy with the largest foreign exchange reserves, not only has China joined most international governance mechanisms, but it is also expected to carry more responsibility in international governance, especially after 2008. As more doors open for China, the country develops more power resources. Therefore, its longstanding One-China Principle shows no signs of wavering but will be advanced as China's participation in international governance continues to expand. One significant consequence of China's accelerating integration into international governance is the continual forcing of Taiwan into China's orbit. Heretofore, the greatest pressure on Taiwan has been a growing number of global agents acknowledging Taiwan as an integral part of China. With China's more prominent global role, that pattern gradually threatens to become an "international consensus" that conditions Taiwan's development. This paper carefully uses a dyad of concepts of power analysis to measure the process of China's promoted power in and through international governance for building structures, wherein the application of the One-China Principle is reorienting Taiwan into the Chinese orbit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]