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Taiwan's Mainland Policy: Normalization, Yes; Reunification, Later

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

Extract

Since 1949, the spectre of the People's Republic of China (PRC) has constantly dominated Taiwan's political stage. The PRC was considered until the mid-1960s by Chiang Kai-shek, then President of the Republic of China on Taiwan (ROCOT), as a part of the country to be reconquered from the Communist bandits (gongfei). And since the United States′ de-recognition in 1979 the reunification with mainland China has remained one of the key official objectives of the Nationalist regime.

Type
Taiwan's Relations with China
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1996

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References

1 Such as the International Olympic Committee since 1982 and, under the name “Taipei, China” the Asian Development Bank since 1988.

2 In 1989, for the first time, the ROCOT established diplomatic relations with Grenada without requiring this country to sever its official rinks with the PRC. Conversely, in 1990, when Saudi Arabia recognized Beijing, Taipei did not close its embassy in Riyadh before China forced the Saudi government to do so.

3 Taipei: The Executive Yuan, Mainland Affairs Council, 1991.

4 “Guanyu ‘yige Zhongguo’ de hanyi” (“Interpretation of ‘one China’”), in Tai'an Hang ‘an guanxi shuomingshu (Explanation of the Relations Across the Taiwan Strait) (Taipei: Xingzhengyuan dalu weiyuanhui, luly 1994), pp. 47–48.Google Scholar

5 Ibid.. pp. 13–40; English translation, Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (Taipei: The Executive Yuan, Mainland Affairs Council, luly 1994).

6 Ibid.. (English version), p. 12

7 Ibid.. p. 14

8 Ibid.. p. 13.

9 Ibid.. pp. 14–15

10 Ibid.. p. 25

11 Ibid.. p. 16.

12 Zhongyang ribao (Central Daily News), 9 April 1995, p. 1; English translation, The China Post, 11 April 1995, p. 5.

13 Zhongguo shibao (China Times), 4 September 1995, p. 1; China News, 25 September 1995, p. 1.

14 The China Post, 24 February 1996, p. 1.

15 Interview to The Asian Wall Street Journal, 27 March 1996, p.

16 Free China Review, Vol. 47, No. 3 (March 1997), insert, pp. 2–3.

17 Cf. n. 15.

18 Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, p. 11

19 Haixia, jiaoliu jijinhui, bashinian nianbao (Strait Exchange Foundation, 1991 Annual Report) (Taipei: SEF, 1992), p. 16Google Scholar

20 Zhongshi wanbao (China Times Express), 17 October 1991, p. 1.

21 Chiu, Hungdah, Koo, WangTalks and the Prospect of Building Constructive and Stable Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (With Documents) (Baltimore: School of Law, University of Maryland, Occasional Papers/Reprints Series in Contemporary Asian Studies, 1993), p. 10.Google Scholar

22 Two other agreements had been signed by the PRC and Taiwan before: the first between the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee and the Chinese Olympic Committee in April 1989 in Hong Kong on the Chinese name of the Taiwanese teams (Zhonghua Taibei and not Zhongguo) this allowed Taipei's athletes to compete in the PRC; and the second between the two Chinas′ Red Cross Associations in September 1990 in Kinmen in order better to organize the repatriation of PRC's illegal immigrants to Taiwan. Both agreements are still in force; cf. Ralph, Clough, Reaching Across the Taiwan Strait, People-to-People Diplomacy (Boulder:Westview Press, 1993), pp. 6365 and 87–88.Google Scholar

23 Tang Shubei refused to annex to the agreement on fishing disputes the internal regulation concerning the 24-mile zone from China's shore in which PRC courts, police and customs are allowed to settle disputes. Conversely, this accord would mean for Taipei a recognition by Beijing of a similar zone off the Taiwan shores. So, this point would have to be included in the agreement per se in one way or another. Interview with Chiao Jen-ho, 10 February 1995.

24 Xinhua, 16 June 1995.

25 Xinhua, 24 August 1995, Lianhe bao (United Daily News), 25 August 1995, p. 2.

26 China News, 19 July 1995, p. 1; The China Post, 30 July 1995, p. 12. Funds given by the Taiwanese for flood victims in the PRC were nevertheless much lower than in 1991 (5 million NTS against 900 million NTS). China News, 11 July 1995, p. 2 and 19 July 1995, p.

27 Lianhe bao, 15 September 1995, p. 1; Zhongguo shibao, 24 October 1995, p. 2.

28 China News, 9 December 1995, p. 1

29 Zhongyang ribao, 5 March 1996, p. 2

30 Zhongguo shibao, 29 August 1995, p. 3.

31 Opening Speech of the “Internatonal Conference on Cross-Strait Relations and Policy Implications for the Asia-Pacific Region,” organized by the Institute for National Policy Research, Taipei, 27 March 1995.

32 China News, 19 August 1995, p. 16; for instance, in September 1995, a discreet delegation of Research Academy of Ballistic Missiles, headed by one of its vice-presidents, Long Lehao, visited Taiwan. Though under the formal supervision of the Chinese Aerospace Administration, this academy is controlled by the PLA. Zhongyang ribao, 4 September 1995, p.l.

33 Asian Wall Street Journal, 21 September 1995, p. 9; Lianhe bao, 28 November 1995

34 Lianhe wanbao (United Evening News), 21 April 1996, p.

35 Zhongguo shibao, 20 February 1995, p. 1

36 According to some reports, Mr Su, a university mate of Lee's son, Lee Hsien-wen, and Ms Cheng met Zeng Qinghong, the head of the CCP General Office, in Shenzhen in March; Xinxinwen (The Journalist), No. 424 (23–29 April 1995), pp. 15–19.

37 Lianhe bao, 22 August 1995, p. 1; according to some officially denied reports, Lee Yuan-tse, the president of the Academia Sinica, met Liu Huaqiu, PRC Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, in the United States on 10 March 1996. Ziyou shibao (Liberty Times), 15 March 1996, p. 2; The China Post, 27 March 1996, pp. 1, 14.

38 China News, 3 February 1996, p. 10 and 17 February 1996, p. 9. In 1996, Taiwanese investment in the PRC reached $3 billion.

39 In April 1996, a group of 80 law-makers (from the KMT, the DPP and the New Party), businessmen and scholars set up an “Association for the promotion of direct transport links across the Strait” (liang'an zhihang cujinhui) to accelerate the establishment of such links. Lianhe boo, 24 March 1996, p. 4; The China Post, 24 March 1996, p. 15

40 The China Post, 3 March 1997, p. 19.

41 Other mainland policies defended by minor parties are not presented here. For instance, a small party called “The 51st Club” militates for the entry of Taiwan in the United States of America as the 51st state of the Union. Founded in September 1994 and chaired by Chou Wei-lin, this party hopes in so doing to reconcile the mainlanders and the Taiwanese….

42 Another source of disagreement is the opportunity of high-level meetings between PRC and ROCOT leaders. However, on this question, DPP officials are not all opposed to such meetings. The China Post, 4 October 1995, p. 16.

43 The China Post, 16 September 1995, p. 15

44 Peng maintained his intention formally to declare independence in the case of PRC attack. The China Post, 2 February 1996, p. 16.

45 China News, 27 April 1995, p. 2; The China Post, 3 October 1995, p. 20

46 Xindang zhengce baihishu (New Party Policy White Paper) (Taipei: New Party, November 1995), pp. 41–3, 105–108

47 For instance, in September 1995, Lin Yang-kang urged the ROCOT government to halt its campaign to rejoin the UN and to postpone the military exercise scheduled for October 1995. The China Post, 12 September 1995, p. 16 and 16 September 1995, p. 15

48 The China Post, 15 March 1996, p. 19; China News, 19 March 1996, p. 1

49 The meeting between Liang Su-yung, a former Speaker of the Legislative Yuan, and Jiang Zemin, which took place in Beijing in late April 1996 is probably an example of such contacts which are nothing but encouraged by the PRC authorities.

50 Cf. Jean-Pierre, Cabestan, Taiwan-Chinepopulaire: I'impossible reunification (Paris: Ed. Ifri-Dunod, 1995), pp. 167–68.Google Scholar

51 For instance, set up in 1990 by Chu Kao-cheng, the small Social-Democratic Party never managed to take off. It merged with the New Party in 1994.

52 There is a striking similarity between the outcome of the presidential election and the results of most opinion polls on the unification-independence question. However, at the height of the March 1996 crisis, only 9.5% of the Taiwanese supported independence, 13.5% unification and 56.2% the status quo. Zhongguo shibao, 6 March 1996, p. 3

53 John Fuh-sheng Hsieh, “Chiefs, staffers, Indians, and others: how was Taiwan's mainland China policy made?” in Tun-jen Cheng, Chi Huang and Samuel Wu S.G. (eds.), Inherited Rivalry, Conflict Across the Taiwan Straits (Boulder:Lynne Rienner, 1995), pp. 137152.Google Scholar

54 In March 1995, Vincent Siew hinted that an end-of-hostility agreement could not be negotiated by the SEF. The China Post, 10 March 1995, p. 1.

55 Lianhe bao, 11 August 1995, p. 3.

56 The China Post, 30 August 1995, p. 16.

57 China News, 30 June 1995, p. 1 and 11 September 1995, p. 3

58 Tse-Kang Leng, “State, business, and economic interaction across the Taiwan Strait,” Issues and Studies, November 1995, pp. 40–58.

59 Lianhe boo, 4 August 1995, p. 7; Zhongguo shibao, 28 July 1995, p. 3.

60 Lianhe bao, 22 July 1995, p. 3.

61 Cf. n. 52.

62 Ibid..

63 Ziyou shibao, 11 March 1996, p. 1.

64 The Far Eastern Economic Review, 18 April 1996, p. 76

65 Less than 5% instead of 6.3%; The China Post, 6 April 1996, p. 11.

66 Interview with Tim T.Y. Ting, Chief Representative of Gallup organization, Taipei, 1 March 1996

67 Lin, Yufang, Weixian de yuyan, po “runbayue” de misi (A Dangerous Prediction, Break the Myth of August 1995) (Taipei:Danjiang daxue guoji shiwu yu zhanliie yanjiusuo, 1995), p. 68ff.Google Scholar; Chen, Lanping, Yijiujiuwu runbayue, Zhonggong wulifantai shiji da yuyan, TDay (August 1995, the Great Prediction of the Century: Chinese Communists' Attack of Taiwan) (Taipei:Shangye zhoukan, 1994).Google Scholar

67 China News, 27 June 1995, p. 1.

68 The China Post, 9 March 1996, p. 1.

69 U.S.Japan Joint Declaration on Security, Tokyo, 17 April 1996, p. 3

70 Washington D.C., Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, 24 November 1969, pp. 1633–1937.

71 The China Post, 22 August 1995, p. 4.

72 In September 1995, Shaw Yu-ming, the director of the ROCOT's Institute of International Relations, declared that the PRC was seeking to reunify Taiwan within 15 years. Zhongguo shibao, 5 September 1995, p. 2.

73 Gary Klintworth, New Taiwan, New China, Taiwan's Changing Role in the Asia-Pacific Region (Melbourne:Longman, 1995), pp. 142ffGoogle Scholar

74 Cf. statements made in March 1996 by Kao Ching-yuan, the head of Taipei's Chinese National Federation of Industries, and Wu Chang-ming, chairman of the Association of Taiwan Investors. The China Post, 13 March 1996, p. 15 and 19 March 1996, p. 14.

75 Cf. statements made in March 1996 by Kao Ching-yuan, the head of Taipei's Chinese National Federation of Industries, and Wu Chang-ming, chairman of the Association of Taiwan Investors. The China Post, 13 March 1996, p. 15 and 19 March 1996, p. 14.