著者

佐藤 和美 久保田 哲夫

出版者

関西学院大学

雑誌

総合政策研究 (ISSN:1341996X)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.24, pp.11-40, 2006-11

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The Taiwan issue, the origin of which dates back to 1949 when the KMT retreated to Taiwan under the leadership of Chiang Kai-Shek, is still one of the most complex political conundrums in the East Asian region. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of this issue by clarifying the positions and policies of Beijing, Washington and Taipei. This paper shows that all three governments favor the status quo in the short run, but each has a different vision of the future, which makes this issue almost unsolvable. The Chinese leadership has long considered unification to be an inalienable policy. Now that great power policy is China's foremost priority, however, China does not emphasize unification as the most urgent issue on its plate. China is now seeking the cooperation of the U.S. in order to prevent Taiwan from declaring independence. The U.S., a key buffer between mainland China and Taiwan, is now more politically and economically interdependent with China than ever before, but still asserts that the consensus of the Taiwanese people is a prerequisite for the resolution of the Taiwan issue. Trying not to be directly involved, the US is seeking to maintain the status quo. Taiwan faces a paradoxical relationship with China. Both major parties in Taiwan, the DPP and the KMT, are caught in the same dilemma: whether to strengthen economic ties with China or to seek Taiwanese political independence.