Organizer and Chair: Hung-mao Tien, Institute for National Policy Research
Discussant: Edward Friedman; University of Wisconsin, Madison
Taiwan-mainland China relations have taken on a new level of global significance after the March crisis. The emerging patterns of the cross-Straits interaction present a paradox for the students of political science. In this rather unique bifurcation, perplexing juxtapositions abound. The PRC has been Taiwan's foremost source of security threats as well as the culprit behind Taiwan's diplomatic isolation and precarious sovereignty status. Yet at the same time, mainland China has rapidly evolved into Taiwan's second largest export market, the single most important source of trade surplus, and the top recipient of Taiwan's outbound capital flow. This perplexing duality has been recognized in recent literature as two aspects of the so-called China Circle-the concurrent processes of economic convergence and political divergence. However, so far, little rigorous intellectual effort has been made to unravel the structural sources of this seemingly inexplicable duality or to analyze the inherent tension and dynamic interaction between the two processes. The dynamics of cross-Strait relations has been conditioned by the perceived challenges and opportunities brought about by the transition to the post-Cold War era, the unraveling of structural conflicts between a status-quo power (i.e., the United States) and a rising power (i.e., the PRC). It has also been propelled by the epic changes in the global political economy, the market-oriented reform in China, and Taiwan's economic restructuring process. In more immediate terms, it has been driven by the domestic politics of the two sides of the Taiwan Straits. This panel will explore the dynamics of cross-Strait relations in three contexts: the cross-Straits strategic interaction, Taiwan's domestic political process, and the integrative pull of the market forces.
Making Sense of Taiwan's Mainland Policy: A Political Economy Perspective
Yun-han Chu, National Taiwan University
Taiwan's mainland policy is full of contradictions as it is both the manifestation and the catalyst of two concurrent processes-economic convergence and political divergence-that characterize the nature of the cross-Straits relations today. It has been propelled by the epic changes in the global political economy, the market-oriented reform in China, and Taiwan's economic restructuring process. It has also been prompted by the perceived challenges and opportunities brought about by the transition to the post-Cold War era, the unraveling of structural conflicts between a status quo power (i.e., the United States) and a rising power (i.e., the PRC) and by the politics of political succession within the CCP. In more immediate terms, it has been driven by the power struggle over political succession within the KMT, the bureaucratic process, the interest group politics, the partisan politics in both the electoral and legislative arenas, and the unfolding of the national identity crisis during Taiwan's recent transition to democracy. To unravel this rather complicated political process: First, I situate the making of Taiwan's mainland policy first in the context of domestic political process, then in the broader context of the integrative pull of the so-called China Circle phenomenon, and lastly, in terms of cross-Straits strategic interaction.
Changing Relations Across the Straits: Beijing's Perceptions
Suisheng Zhao, Colby College
Beijing's military exercise, including missile tests aimed toward the shores of Taiwan, prior to Taiwan's first direct presidential election in early 1996, was a major crisis involving not only Taiwan and mainland China, but also the United States as well as some other East Asian countries. This crisis became an important turning point in cross-Strait relations. What were the objectives and causes of Beijing's strong military action? Has Beijing reached its objectives? In what direction have the cross-Strait relations evolved since the end of the crisis? Adequate answers to these questions, which affect the stability and development not only of cross-Strait relations, but the entire Asia-Pacific region, require comprehensive examination and analysis of many important factors. One of these is Beijing's perception of the changing relations of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. This article attempts to examine this perception, the factors that help to shape it, and the implications for the future direction of the relationship.
Channels Across the Straits: The Political Preferences and Activities of Taiwan
Investors in China
Elizabeth Henderson, University of Michigan
This paper will consider how the activities of business actors have affected the dynamics of the cross-Straits relationship since the late 1980s. Through data gathered from fieldwork and surveys, the paper will trace the changing preference structure of Taiwan's investors in China and discuss the official and unofficial channels that have been developed to pursue their political and economic preferences in the Mainland and on Taiwan. The paper will emphasize the divergence of preferences within the investment community based on size, timing of investment and industry in explaining the lack of coordinated activity in some issue areas, while showing the importance of coordinated and uncoordinated activities in shaping policy implementation. Finally, the paper will discuss the impact of cross-Straits relations on the operation of established channels of communication between investors and governmental actors on both sides of the Taiwan Straits. Specifically, the paper will examine the responses and effectiveness of investors during the PRC's missile tests and live-ammunition exercises in March 1996.
"Guanxi" and Government-Business Interaction Across the Taiwan Strait
Jieh-min Wu, Columbia University
Recent scholarship on Chinese societies has demonstrated a great interest in guanxi, or exchange networks of personal connections. Yet, the conceptualization of phenomena has been divided into different perspectives. Roughly put, there are three approaches in which guanxi is receptively treated as: (1) an integral ingredient of the unique Chinese culture; (2) a cultural function instrumental to a particularistic, reciprocal exchange; and more recently (3) a structural element that may facilitate or obstruct organizational life, contingent on institutional context. Although these divergent views complement each other in one way or another, they can be interpreted as contending approaches to the significance of guanxi in Chinese societies in particular and of the particularistic relationship in human society in general theory.
The purpose of the research is to explicate the practice of guanxi in contemporary Chinese political economy at the local level, and to elaborate on a concept of personal connections in terms of institutional continuity and change. The case employed is the phenomenal influx of Taiwanese businessmen into coastal China in the last decade and their gradual spillover into the in-land more recently. Most Taiwanese, arguably, carrying a Chineseness in their ethnic origin and in their cultural proactive, know how to mobilize guanxi web. They make an excellent case to explore the fundamental transformation of government-business relations taking place in China. In part due to virtual isolation as a result of political rivalry across the strait for four decades, people from Taiwan often impress the mainland Chinese with a double feeling of affinity and strangeness. Consequently, the interaction between both sides is couched in a strange ambiance of trust and suspicion. Correlatedly, the outcome and pattern of interaction is not solely determined by the factor of personal ties in daily exchange, but much contingent on institutional context, political climate, policy from the center, and accumulated efforts of previous practice. In essence, the encounter of the business communities from both societies provides a window to observe the processes of networking and their interaction with institutional evolution.
A tentative conclusion of the research is: Guanxi tends to be instrumental for working out a collaboration protocol (or "conspiracy pact") between local officials and Taiwanese entrepreneurs (as foreign investors) under a specific organizational web when the institutional structure does not allow a reciprocal relationship to sustain between the cooperators, or when the outer structure is enduring, or is expected to have, a major change. In the latter case, the existing networks may prove inefficient, or even worse, trouble-asking. If this observation holds true, we can go on making a series of inferences regarding the questions such as how and to what extent the Taiwanese investments have brought about change to the Chinese government-business relationship, and the like.
The paper is based on fieldwork in Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Henan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan during 1993-1996.