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The renewal of economic and social relations between Taiwan and Mainland China, and the economic and social integration of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait resulting from it, has led to an advanced state of interdependence. Scholars have argued that economic integration has the potential to catalyze political unification. However, as this consolidation has failed to appear, scholars have sought alternative frameworks for understanding the conditions necessary to facilitate unification. Drawing on the "linkage community" integration framework, which outlines a group of people with ties to both sides of the Taiwan Strait and the ability to influence policymakers as a primary variable for understanding the potential for unification, this paper examines the political activity of organizations for Taisheng, Taiwanese students at Mainland Chinese universities. Based on data collected through informal interviews with Taiwanese students and officials conducted between October 2012 and August 2013, this paper presents information on the situation of Taiwanese students in Mainland China and argues that they have little potential to drive unification. It concludes that better understanding of the intersection of identity and interests in the cross-Strait context is essential to comprehending the relationship between Taiwan and Mainland China and the unification of divided nations more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent rapprochement between China and Taiwan cannot be understood if our conceptual apparatus is unable to cope with the distinctive new quality of cross-Strait relations. A critical framework provides a transnational account of cross-Strait dynamics. An analysis of the KMT-CCP Forum through the lens of the neo-Gramscian notion of hegemony sheds light on the Forum's strategies, mechanisms, practices and instruments to secure consent for cross-Strait rapprochement. While this mode of governance has broadened the KMT's strategic options, it has also compromised Taiwanese democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While few Chinese observers currently suspect that Washington seeks formal Taiwanese independence, a sizable majority believes the United States is striving to preserve Taiwan's de facto separation to check China's rise. This view is both unduly pessimistic and destabilizing. Accordingly, Washington should work to correct it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]