Making Cross-Strait Relations: A Constructivist View

• Main Author: Sebastian Hambach
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: National Sun Yat-sen University 2017-12-01
• Series: Contemporary Chinese Political Economy and Strategic Relations: An International Journal
• Subjects: constructivism; Cross-Strait relations; one China; speech acts; status quo
• Online Access: http://rpb115.nsysu.edu.tw/var/file/131/1131/img/2374/CCPS3(3)-Hambach.pdf

Following Nicholas Onuf’s theory of rule-based constructivism, this paper argues that the Cross-Strait relationship between Taiwan and China after World War II can be analyzed as a social construct that has mainly been governed by the “one China” rule, which is designed and influenced by speech acts performed by relevant agents in Taiwan, China, and the United States. A summary of the historic developments of the Cross-Strait relationship (1949-2000), which highlights the circumstances of the creation of the “one China” rule as well as gradual challenges to it, is followed by a comparison of the approaches of different ruling parties in Taiwan to influence the definition of the Cross- Strait relationship between 2000-2008 (Democratic Progressive Party, DPP) and 2008-2016 (Kuomintang, KMT), respectively. Both parties used distinctly different speech acts to define Taiwan’s relationship to China, which, together with related practices, aimed at either weakening (DPP) or strengthening (KMT) the “one China” rule as a cornerstone for the Cross-Strait relationship. The paper argues that, while the “one China” rule has traditionally been supported, to different degrees, by agents in China, the US, and most of the former KMT governments, the gradual consolidation of Taiwan’s democratic system and efforts by the KMT government under Lee Teng-hui as well as consecutive DPP governments, have led to the creation of a new “status quo” rule, which has steadily gained momentum.