Cross-Strait Relations―From the Sole China,Two Chinas and the Greater China - 论文

International Relations and Diplomacy, June 2019, Vol. 7, No. 06, 258-278 doi: 10.17265/2328-2134/2019.06.002

D DAVID PUBLISHING Cross-Strait Relations―From the Sole China, Two Chinas and

the Greater China

David J. Sarquis

Universidad del Mar (UMAR), Huatulco, Mexico

Wei-Chiao Ying

Tecnológico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico

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This article analyses the bilateral relations across the Taiwan Straits, between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC) tracing developments from the end of WWII to date, considering the dispute over the legitimacy of the representation of the Chinese people as a whole. We attempt to draw a thorough picture of how relations between the “two Chinas” evolved in the historical frame of the Cold War and the post-Cold War period, in order to suggest the prospective for the near future. We conclude that the concept of the Greater China is no longer restricted to the economic/commercial sphere but it can also be extended to all aspects of life in the Chinese-speaking region. While the competition between the two Chinas remains tough, thanks to the characteristic notion of “harmony but not uniformity” of the Chinese identity, the door to a peaceful reunification is open. Keywords: Taiwan Straits, One-China Policy, the Greater China, Chinese identity

Introduction

When people talk about China today, in different parts of the world, most bring to mind almost instantly

the big giant that is emerging as a world power in the 21th century: the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The “World Factory”, they say, although the fact is that many major multinational enterprises, which have invested in China for decades since the 1978 economic reforms, is now even more interested in increasing the opportunities to boost their sales in the Chinese massive domestic market. They have proposed ambitious plans to expand in the PRC, considering the high sales figures and market opportunities they are bound to find once established there. In order to achieve their goals in the PRC, companies like IBM, Amazon, and Microsoft have complied with the Cybersecurity Law by forming partnerships with local companies to offer cloud computing services based in the PRC and Apple has even gone one step further by announcing its plans to open a new data center over there. No doubt, the PRC is being transformed from a manufacturing base to a consumer society that is becoming as attractive as any major developed economy in the West, perhaps even more. Thus, China has become a very attractive pole of development that the rest of the world is watching carefully, some with more fear than hope.

David J. Sarquis, Ph.D. in International Relations, professor at the Institute of International Studies “Isidro Fabela”, Universidad del Mar (UMAR), Huatulco, Mexico.

Wei-Chiao Ying, Ph.D. candidate, B.A. in Business Management, Graduate School of Social Science and Humanities, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Monterrey, Mexico.