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We examined hashtag activism promoting Taiwan's participation in the global efforts to combat COVID-19. We employed the computational Analysis of Topic Model Networks (ANTMN) to examine the discourse around the #TaiwanCanHelp/#TWforWHO campaign in 2020 (N = 163,876) on Twitter. Our model identified 35 topics clustered within three frames. The containment frame emphasized strategies used to stop COVID-19's spread in Taiwan. The geopolitics frame described China's use of its international power to exclude Taiwan from the World Health Organization. The international cooperation frame emphasized Taiwan's ability and efficacy to contribute to the global efforts to slow down COVID-19. These results extend our understanding of hashtag activism by examining the intersection of geopolitics and global health crises. We introduce the theoretical concept of a mutually beneficial coalition, one that points to detrimental impacts of oppression on both the oppressed and the allies who are asked to help. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Taiwan Strait has often been referred to as one of the world's most dangerous hotspots and many dire predictions have been made about a military conflict between mainland China and Taiwan, likely involving the United States. Yet, despite several crises in the Taiwan Strait and numerous war speculations, there has been no major armed conflict between Beijing and Taipei since the 1950s. How do we explain the puzzle that an expected war across the Taiwan Strait did not happen after all? This paper first examines the explanations based on military balance of power. Having found the realist/rationalist explanations less convincing, however, this study explores the explanatory power of the 'ethnicity' factor. It suggests that when the Chinese society is no longer divided by ideological differences, the 'ethnicity' may provide a more convincing explanation of why a military conflict has not happened in the Taiwan Strait in the past four decades. This paper also considers several counterarguments, including the neo-liberal argument of economic integration as a driving force for peace in the age of globalization. The paper concludes with a discussion of some policy implications resulting from the 'ethnic peace' thesis and proposes that when actively promoted by the both sides, the Chinese ethnic identity is likely to be the most important strategic guarantee of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait for many years to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years the concept of 'soft power', popularized by the work of Joseph Nye, has gained currency in both China and Taiwan. This paper explores how the Chinese and Taiwanese understand soft power and its sources, and how their understanding differs from Nye's formulation. It discusses why this foreign concept has become so salient in the Chinese and the Taiwanese discourse. It also examines the impact of this concept on the external policies of China and Taiwan. The paper concludes by pointing out the limitations of the concept of soft power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite emergent trends of geo-economic integration between nation-states, the role of realist-driven geopolitical calculation appears highly enduring. This paper explores the potential contradictions between state-centric geopolitical concerns and transnational geo-economic formation through an exploration of China-US tensions over Taiwan, a territory of indeterminate geo-legal status and which China regards as its own province. I consider how the Taiwan Relations Act, a domestic public law of the US that frames US-Taiwan relations and has a major influence on East Asian geopolitics, could contradict emergent 'China region', and possibly even China-US, geo-economic integration. This is because the US-sustained arms sales to Taiwan rest on imagining and containing China as a 'threat', while geo-economic integration entails enrolling China as a strategic partner, if not an ally. Consequently, the Taiwan issue could stifle the enhancement of Sino-American relations at a historical juncture when the Chinese and American economies are more intertwined than ever. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After noting the rise of geoeconomics in the post-Cold War era, the paper ascertains how the age of geoeconomics re-defines power and the rules of the balance of power game. Of particular significance is that a nation’s economic security eclipses its military security (or traditional national defense). In this context, I examine the meanings of the rise of a re-ascendant China for world politics in general and for Taiwan’s future in particular. Considering Taiwan’s heavy dependence on imported natural resources and its isolation and exclusion from vital international economic groupings, such as FTA’s. ASEAN, ASEM, and the 16-nation Asian super economic bloc in the marking. Finally, I take a prospective look at the prospect of a future cross-Strait integration between Taiwan and mainland China under the impact of the dictate of geoeconomics. [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]

The European Union (EU) and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) both use the terms ‘multipolarity’ and ‘multilateralism’ in their ‘public diplomacy’ rhetoric and in their analyses of the international system. However, while the EU stresses multilateralism, the PRC remains explicit in its welcome of multipolarity. Yet shifts are apparent. In part, there may be some ‘international socialisation’ in play in which EU multilateralism usage, normative underpinnings, rub off on the PRC. In part, both terms are being supplemented by still wider overlapping terms of references for an untidy multilevel international system, such as ‘interpolarity’, ‘asymmetrical multipolarity’, ‘region-polarity’, ‘inter-regionalism’, ‘multilateralising multipolarity’ and ‘multi-multilateralism’. An untidy multilevel EU may find it easier to operate in such a shifting international system than a tidy sovereignty-sensitive PRC? [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Taiwan policy of China's third leadership generation focuses primarily on the hope that the Taiwan issue will not delay or undermine the progress of China's economic development. China's Taiwan policy is founded on two basic pillars: "utilizing the U.S. to suppress Taiwan" and "appealing to the Taiwanese public." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taiwan's declining defense capability has increasingly tilted the balance of power in the Taiwan Strait towards China. While the current status quo suits Taiwan's domestic political realities and postpones the Taiwan question to the future, its declining defense capabilities vis-à-vis China hold important implications for Taiwan. They include the reduction of its political bargaining power with China, the undermining of stability in the Taiwan Strait as China increasingly has a viable military option, and ultimately decreases the probability that the status quo can be maintained. Left unattended, Taiwan's declining defense capabilities narrow Taiwan's options and could lead to unpalatable outcomes, including sudden crisis and conflict, and the ultimate resolution of the Taiwan problem on China's terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the United States' role in maintaining peace between China and Taiwan. China maintained that it plans to reunite the two countries as a matter of policy. The United States has led international efforts to maintain a separate government in Taiwan. The author questions future U.S. foreign policy after U.S. President George W. Bush leaves office.

Taiwan `s controversial 2004 presidential election has drastically changed the political landscape of the island. The balance of power is turning greatly in favor of the pro-independence DPP and TSU coalition. China now focuses its energy on building up a well-off society in an all-round way. China will try its best to solve the Taiwan question peacefully. As Chen Shui-bian has made up his mind to carry out his timetable for independence, Beijing is being driven into a corner. Chen Shui-bian `s victory not only constitutes a big challenge to China, but also a big challenge to the US. At the moment US-China relations are in one of the best stages of all time, but of the Taiwan issue goes out of control, US-China relations would be devastated, leading to a serious confrontation which might trigger a disastrous war between the two countries. In order to avoid such a worst-case scenario, the two countries should coordinate to manage the situation and take effective measures to keep the issue under control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]