Political Reunification with Taiwan
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Lingnan University Digital Commons @ Lingnan University Theses & Dissertations Department of Political Sciences 9-16-2015 Political reunification with aiwanT : perspectives from the leadership, intellectuals and the general public in Mainland China Peiji YU Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.ln.edu.hk/pol_etd Part of the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Yu, P. (2015). Political reunification with aiwan:T Perspectives from the leadership, intellectuals and the general public in Mainland China (Master's thesis, Lingnan University, Hong Kong). Retrieved from http://commons.ln.edu.hk/pol_etd/15/ This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Political Sciences at Digital Commons @ Lingnan University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Lingnan University. Terms of Use The copyright of this thesis is owned by its author. Any reproduction, adaptation, distribution or dissemination of this thesis without express authorization is strictly prohibited. All rights reserved. POLITICAL REUNIFICATION WITH TAIWAN: PERSPECTIVES FROM THE LEADERSHIP, INTELLECTUALS AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC IN MAINLAND CHINA YU PEIJI MPHIL LINGNAN UNIVERSITY 2015 POLITICAL RENIFCATION WITH TAIWAN: PERSPECTIVES FROM THE LEADERHIP, INTELLECTUALS AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC IN MAINLAND CHINA by Yu Peiji A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Philosophy in Political Science LINGNAN UNIVERSITY 2015 ABSTRACT Political Reunification With Taiwan: Perspectives from the Leadership, Intellectuals and the General Public in Mainland China by Yu Peji Master of Philosophy This thesis studies Mainland China’s standpoint of political reunification with Taiwan in the contemporary era (2008-2014). The exploration examines the perspectives of leadership, intellectuals and the general public under the analytical framework of state nationalism and popular nationalism. In general, the standpoints that “Taiwan as an integral part of China” and a “political reunification with Taiwan should be realized” are still the mainstream views in Mainland China. However, detailed reunification views vary among the different perspectives. In terms of the state nationalism composed by leadership and establishment intellectuals, the settlement of the Taiwan issue and the realization of the complete reunification of China represent the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation and the People’s Republic of China (PRC). State nationalism regards a political reunification by “One Country, Two Systems” under the sovereignty of the PRC through peaceful negotiation as the best proposal. Meanwhile, it also reserves the possibility of executing military resolution to prevent the independence of Taiwan as the bottom line. However, considering the contemporary political reality across the Strait, state nationalism is also willing to make pragmatic explorations such as authorizing more autonomy to Taiwan and even initiating political reforms in Mainland to facilitate reunification in the special political circumstances that the country has not yet been reunified. As for the popular nationalism made up by the general public and public intellectuals, majority opinions are in favor of a political reunification though there is a clear division between the conservatives and the liberals. The most prominent views among the conservatives are that they believe Mainland should be dominant in the reunification process and mainland government is justified to use military force under any circumstance. In contrast, the most popular views among the liberals are that they believe the prospect of reunification cannot be realized without the political reforms in Mainland China. It should be noted that mainlanders no longer think as a monolithic bloc with the government as they used to do. While state nationalism mainly present as relatively conservative, popular nationalism shows a polarization. Popular nationalism is either more conservative or more liberal. Among the general public, some make objections to reunify with Taiwan and some openly show preference to the independence of Taiwan. CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................... iii LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS....................................................................................... v Chapter 1. Introduction ............................................................................................. 1 1.1 The Importance of Political Reunification with Taiwan to Mainland China ......... 1 1.2 The Importance of Double Track Study ................................................................. 4 1.3 Analytical Framework ............................................................................................ 7 1.4 Research Questions .............................................................................................. 19 1.5 Chapter Outlines ................................................................................................... 20 Chapter 2. Internet Situation in China & Methodology ...................................... 22 2.1 Internet Situation in China ................................................................................... 22 2.2 Methodological Design ........................................................................................ 48 2.3 Conclusion............................................................................................................ 57 Chapter 3. State Nationalism I: Leadership .......................................................... 59 3.1 The Evolution of Cross Strait Relations and Beijing’s Policy Agenda ................ 59 3.2 Leadership I: Taiwan Related Policy Papers ........................................................ 67 3.3 Leadership II: Political Leader’ Speeches ............................................................ 75 3.4 Conclusion............................................................................................................ 81 Chapter 4. Poplar Nationalism I: the General Public .......................................... 84 4.1 Statistical Summary ............................................................................................. 84 4.2 Overall Views of Main Posts from Four Selected Forums................................... 77 4.3 Effective Replies ................................................................................................ 103 4.4 Conclusion.......................................................................................................... 108 Chapter 5. State Nationalism and Popular Nationalism II: Establishment Intellectuals and Public Intellectuals ..................................................................... 111 5.1 Statistical Summary ........................................................................................... 111 5.2 Reunification Views from Establishment Intellectuals and Public Intellectuals 113 5.3 Conclusion.......................................................................................................... 133 Chapter 6. Conclusion ........................................................................................... 143 6.1 Answer to the Main Question ............................................................................ 143 6.2 Answer to the Sub-Questions ............................................................................. 145 6.3 Limitation of the Study ...................................................................................... 154 Appendix ................................................................................................................. 156 A. Information about Expressions from Online Forums (For Chapter 4) ................ 156 i B. Selected Articles from Establishment Intellectuals (For Chapter 5) ................... 174 C. Selected Articles from Public Intellectuals (For Chapter 5)................................ 180 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................. 191 ii LIST OF TABLES Table 1. The Difference between Left and Right in Political Ideologies in China. ... 34 Table 2. Political Orientations of Online Chinese Nationalism ................................. 37 Table 3. Highlights of the Policy Papers .................................................................... 73 Table 4. Highlights of the Political Leader’s Speeches .............................................. 79 Table 5.The Distribution of Political Orientations of Total Selected Main Posts by Forums .......................................................................................................... 86 Table 6.The Overall Distribution of Political Orientations of Total Selected Main Posts .............................................................................................................. 87 Table 7.The Distribution of Political Orientations of Works from Establishment Intellectuals ................................................................................................. 112 Table 8.The Distribution of Political Orientations of Contributions from Public Intellectuals ................................................................................................. 113 Table 9. Highlights of the Views from