Research on Institutionalization of Peaceful Cross-Strait Development

Project Investigator : Jih-Shine Chou

Collaborator : Ming-Tong Chen

 

I. Project Background and Topic

        Peace is the common language across the Taiwan Strait. Pursuing peaceful development is the shared objective of the peoples on both sides of the Strait. At the moment, there is an unprecedented calm in cross-Strait relations. However, in the quarter-century since the resumption of unofficial cross-Strait exchanges in 1986, relations between Taiwan and Mainland China have often been turbulent or deadlocked. Unstable and tense cross-Strait relations have rocked and tangled the emotions of 23 million Taiwanese and 1.3 billion Mainland Chinese, the vast majority of whom simply wish for a peaceful and stable environment in which people in all walks of life can attend to their daily affairs and pursue their life objectives without fear of disruption from political tensions across the Taiwan Strait.

        Maintaining peaceful and stable cross-Strait relations is a huge and difficult task which requires the leadership on both sides to exercise wisdom and lead their respective societies to work together toward this common objective. How to design institutional mechanisms to achieve long-term cross-Strait peace and stability has become a pressing issue. The Graduate Institute of National Development established a Mainland China and Cross-Strait Relations instruction and research group during its recent reorganization and has always prided itself on serving as an  important platform for cross-Strait research and exchange. Based on the Institute’s resources and faculty expertise, as well as on an examination of current developments in cross-Strait relations, we have chosen Institutionalization of Peaceful Cross-Strait Development as the topic for this research project.

II. Project Design and Output

        This research project has two main parts: (1) holding public hearings and (2) carrying out interview research in Mainland China. With respect to the first part, government officials, elected representatives, academics and opinion leaders from Taiwan various political parties will be invited to participate in a series of five public hearings. Participants will address pre-assigned discussion topics. The hearings will allow the project’s researchers to gather opinions from all sides on the issue of institutionalizing peaceful cross-Strait development.

        For the second part of this project, the project’s researchers will design in-depth interview questions and then travel to Beijing to conduct interview research with government officials involved in Taiwan policy and with experts at think tanks which conduct research on Taiwan. Interview research in Beijing will gather the opinions of officials and researchers involved in the formulation of Mainland China’s Taiwan policy regarding the question of how to institutionalize cross-Strait peaceful development. The results of this interview research will then be presented in consultations with domestic government officials, elected representatives, academic experts and political party representatives in order to compare their views with those of their Mainland Chinese counterparts.

        Upon completion of the two opinion-gathering research activities discussed above, the project will recommend policies for the institutionalization of peaceful cross-Strait development while also making recommendations regarding related work on legal system issues that would be required for implementation of such policies. The project will thereby provide operationalizable results and thus meet the objectives established by NTU’s Center for Public Policy and Law.

III. Expected Results

1. Through a series of domestic public hearings, gain an understanding of the range of opinions in Taiwan about how to institutionalize peaceful cross-Strait development, including attitudes toward the concept of such institutionalization, its specific connotations and related policy objectives.
2. By carrying out interview research in Beijing, gain an understanding of attitudes among officials and experts involved in Mainland China’s Taiwan policy regarding the question of how to institutionalize peaceful cross-Strait development.
3. By presenting the results of interview research conducted in Beijing in  consultations with domestic government officials, elected representatives, academic experts and political party representatives, gain an understanding of similarities and differences between views on the two sides with respect to this topic; based on this understanding, present policy recommendations and a draft list of work on legal system issues that would be required for implementation of recommended policies.