This paper examines the cross-Strait relationship from the theoretical perspective of Joseph S. Nye Jr.’s soft power. It begins with a discussion of China’s grand soft power strategy throughout the global community highlighting the use of three resources of soft power: culture, political values and foreign policies. This paper then transitions into a more specific study of the cross-Strait relationship examining the evolution of Jiang Zemin’s hard power approach to Hu Jintao’s soft power approach. This paper argues, as reflected in opinion polls, Hu Jintao’s new soft power strategy has already had an impact on the Taiwanese public’s perception of China. Taiwanese today, have a significantly more positive perception of China than they did during Jiang Zemin’s era. Furthermore, Hu Jintao’s pragmatic strategy seems to be effective in deterring Taiwanese independence.

In a broad way, the main intention of this study is an attempt to analyze the changes the diplomatic competition between China and Taiwan in Latin America has brought to all the involved parties. How this competition have concentrated in just a few countries serving as Taiwan last stand hold against Chinese attempts to isolate it in the international community during the last three decades. The aim is to understand the whole evolution and dynamics of this great Asian issue elucidated in Latin America, and the way both China and Taiwan have behave to attract the favor of those small Latin American countries while those Latin American countries have also came to profit from this situation. Both, China and Taiwan have an almost symbiotic relationship with Latin America, relationship to become more and more important if current geopolitical and economic conditions were to continue. One side, Both China and Taiwan demand a great amount of Latin American natural resources to fuel their global industry. On the other side, Latin America demands more and more of the finished goods produced in China and Taiwan. The main research question the author will attempt to solve here is: ¡§Why are Latin American states shifting or considering shifting to China?¡¨ complementary questions intended to shed some light on the author¡¦s original assumptions are that Chinese economic growth is not the only explanation for Latin America¡¦s support of China. These questions are as follow: ¡§Does Latin American States perceive China as a threat? Has US double standard contributed to Taiwan losing its Latin American partners? Has Taiwanese implementation of Dollar diplomacy methods in some Latin American states something to do with its losing of supporters? A throughout analysis of both, the Chinese economic and geopolitical reach as well as Latin American¡¦s own search for economic, political and ideological independence from US are the main explanatory for the changes observed in this triangular relationship. Nevertheless, a series of unorthodox foreign policy methods such as ¡¥Dollar Diplomacy¡¦ conditioned foreign aid, have also contributed to these changes.

This paper analyzes Taiwan’s cross-Strait trade regimes from 1987 to 2006. The situation across Taiwan Strait has changed remarkably since 1987 when the Kuomingtang government lifted martial law and allowed Taiwanese people to enter to the People’s Republic of China. By now it is estimated that Taiwanese businessmen have invested more than US$ 100 billion in mainland China. China has become Taiwan’s largest trading partner notwithstanding the government’s restrictions. The laws and regulations have changed since 1987, too. There are many players that participate in the decision making process and implementation of policies in Taipei. This paper explains the factors that have lead to current situation and explains why there is a big gap between official policies and real volume in terms of investment and trade. These factors include different players of the game (e.g. leadership, political parties, organizations, and businessmen) as well as broader trends (i.e. democratization, globalization, and vertical disintegration.) Key words: Cross-Strait relations, Taiwanese investment and trading.

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Since 1987, the interaction between the cross-strait turned into a varied pattern. The political interactions displayed an absent status in each of particular periods. However, on another side, the lower level of the economic, trade, social and cultural integration aspects between the strait has become more interdependent and animated. In reviewing theories of the cross-strait relationship, this paper will take the approach of the integration theories, and employ the viewpoint of Karl W. Deutsch of the Communications. The paper also attempts to examine the critical factors that have influenced the integration on the relations between China and the Taiwan in the integration system. And have a thorough understanding of the effect and development in the integration process. The conclusion is that the integration situation has been separated into two sides of pro-independence and pro-unification. The aspect of political integration is in the position to choose one side or the other while non-political aspects of economic, society, and culture have developed to closed relationship. In other words, this paper will explore how the two actors interact from lower politics to higher politics such as political integration and cooperation.

With the 2016 election of Tsai Ing-wen and the Democratic People’s Party, the number of Mainland Chinese visitors in Taiwan has fallen precipitously. There is much debate as to whether or not this will prove to be a catastrophe for Taiwan’s tourism sector or whether it will even be felt. The purpose of this thesis is to ascertain the impact of the reduction in Mainland Chinese tourist numbers on the economy, and what it may mean for China-Taiwan economic and political relations. Due to the large amount Mainland Chinese tourists spend relative to other visitors, their length of stay, and their propensity for traveling to locations rarely visited by other types of tourists, the decrease in Mainland Chinese visitor numbers will have negative consequences for some parts of the Taiwanese economy. Furthermore, Chinese tourism trends in Taiwan correlate with larger Cross-Strait economic concerns, implying that what happens with tourism may be mirrored in trade. Should this prove to be the case, a cooling of China-Taiwan economic relations may be an indicator of difficult times for the China-Taiwan relationship as a whole. However, there is certainly opportunity for Taiwan’s tourism sector, and there is evidence that by refocusing on a more diverse array of visitors, Taiwan is capable managing without such heavy, and coercive, Chinese influence.

Since the early 1990s, more and more people in Taiwan have come to view Taiwan itself as a country independent of China. They consider themselves Taiwanese rather than Chinese. Drawing on a social constructionist perspective to nationalism and Laclau and Mouffe's theory of discourse, this dissertation attempts to analyze the discursive mechanisms that have constructed this new collective imagination by many people in Taiwan that now regard themselves as members of an independent Taiwanese nation. The research questions of this dissertation are: how has the post-1949 national identity of Taiwan been discursively transformed since the early 1990s? What are the discursive and institutional mechanisms that have reproduced the Taiwanese national identity? What challenges is the Taiwanese national identity facing? To answer these questions, this dissertation outlines three nationalist discourses and five representations that have been derived from them regarding Taiwan's status, its relationship with mainland China, and the national identity of people in Taiwan. It examines the changes in Taiwan's discursive regime and symbolic economy since the early 1990s, showing how the rise of Taiwanese national identity has been closely related to political leaders' identification with Taiwanese nationalism. I argue that the rise of Taiwanese national identity in Taiwan has been an effect of a discursive contestation among the three major nationalist discourses and the polarization of the discursive field. This dissertation also explores the provincial origin issue---which has been closely related to ethnic tension in Taiwan---and the relations between the nationalist discourses and democratization. In addition, to explore the possibility for a deconstruction of the Taiwanese national identity, I examine the challenges that the Taiwanese national identity faces, focusing on democracy, the Democratic Progressive Party's performance as the ruling party, and the cross-Strait economic integration and political interactions. / Ph. D.

The aim of this master thesis is to assess present situation and current aspects of cross-strait relations in the area of mutual negotiation, achieved progress as well as possible future development. First, a brief summary of existing historic development of mutual relations of China and Taiwan is presented with the emphasis laid on historic moments influencing attitude and relations of both states. The main factors that have a significant influence on views and behaviour of both China and Taiwan and on their relationship as well are identified in the next chapter. The last chapter deals with the future of cross-strait relations; the main possible alternatives of prospective development of mutual relations of both sides of the Taiwan Strait with reference to the above mentioned factors are presented. The conclusion summarizes the main problems of current cross-strait relations and it also evaluates which variant of the future development of mutual relations of China and Taiwan is the most probable one.

本文研究目的在於以Brantly Womack的不對稱關係理論，來研究兩岸關係，並測試其理論的有效性。有關不對稱關係理論，原本以經濟及軍事面向為分析焦點。本論文則將民主及主權等相關理論列入分析範疇，並使得不對稱理論的研究範圍擴大。此外，有關第三方的角色，尤其是美國的角色，也納入了論文的討論與分析。因此，不對稱關係的研究，也將從雙邊關係，拓展到三邊關係。本論文將對不對稱的三角關係，作出了理論及政策上的貢獻。 / The basic aim of this current thesis is to place the connection between China and Taiwan into Brantly Womack’s concept of asymmetric connections. The main question of the study is if the relations across the Taiwan Strait are an asymmetric one and if so, does this connection fit into the framework of the mentioned theory. The presence of non-symmetry or the lack of it is to be proven uniquely through the sectors of economy and military, by comparing the two actors in these spheres. With the step of taking these two sectors as the basis of the examination and including a democratically governed territory in the study, not just the limitations of the original concept will be broadened, but a gap will be filled that has existed in the field. Additionally, a third party, the United States is introduced into the connection between Beijing and Taipei. The nature of the study of the relations will change from bilateral to triangular. As a result, the concept of asymmetric triangle will take the place of the asymmetric connections theory for the duration of one chapter.

None / In the post-Cold War era, China, Japan and Taiwan entered the new phase of their relationship and were forced to reconsider their security and political dialogues. Despite of the US presence in East Asia, they are becoming more active players in the region, thus, shaping a regional “pseudo-strategic” triangle. The main focus in the research is security issues and concerns among the China, Japan and Taiwan in that period without active interference of the US. In 2002, China and Japan celebrated thirty years of relations` normalization. However, some scholars are not optimistic about future intentions of both countries. Contemporary Chinese and Japanese diplomats try to rely on the friendship diplomacy; however, their efforts in an official level still are described as “a mirage of good relations.” Therefore, in the future, China and Japan will keep “equal-but-distant” relationship. On the contrary, even though Japan and Taiwan do not have official relations, however, they both are getting closer by intensifying “unofficial” channels of communication. Overall, one can see that China, Japan, and Taiwan are interested in peace and stability in the region; yet, it remains unclear, whether all of them mean the same thing by security and stability; therefore, this is an important question for future research and security studies of East Asian region.